Our Worst Nightmare
by NightRaven33
Summary: Everyone from the S-Class trials have just returned from Tenrou Island. Everyone is haunted by memories of their near death experiences with Zeref, Grimoire Heart, and Acnologia. When one of the worst nightmares comes to life, will they be able to put an end to it? Will they not have the strength to commit the worst crime of dragon slayers? Dark themes in later chapters
1. Chapter 1

_Italics are the thoughts of the POV_

Chapter One: Nightmares

It is the year X791, the town of Magnolia is pretty quiet at this time of night. Most of the residents were sleeping by now, resting for whatever the next day brought them. Being the home city of Fairy Tail, there really was not any way to know what sort of chaos tomorrow may bring. However, despite this atmosphere, there were several people scattered across the city who were restless. All were from Fairy Tail, and all of them had only recently returned to Magnolia after being trapped for 7 years on Tenrou Island. None of them had been prepared for what the lost years would bring to them, and all were tormented by nightmares of the near fatal attack of Zeref, Grimoire Heart, and Acnologia.

One of the especially troubled souls is Fairy Tail wizard Natsu Dragneel. He lay in his hammock, breathing heavily, heart pounding wildly in his chest. He stared up at his ceiling in an attempt to calm his wild heart. _What the heck is going on with me? It's been a week since I got back and instead of the nightmares going away, they are getting worse._ He grabbed his head between his hands and growled in anger. _If this was just some enemy, I could just knock him into Tuesday; but, I've been getting all fired up over my own overactive imagination._

He turned over onto his side, facing the window. His thoughts were becoming more jumbled and unclear by the second. It was then that he turned his thoughts towards the person who was most prominently present during said nightmare.

 _Lucy…_

His heart spiked again at the thought of his blonde partner-in-crime. They had been through some of his best adventures together. While he never thought of her as weak like she did, he had given himself the task of protecting her when she needed it. It all started when the Phantom Lord guild attacked and kidnapped her. The thought of Lucy at the mercy of those creeps and life in Fairy Tail without her gave Natsu immense spirit and strength, enough to defeat Gajeel. Unfortunately, it took everything Natsu had so he couldn't burn Gajeel to a crisp for how badly Lucy had been tortured.

Natsu sighed lightly to himself. He wasn't going to try and fool himself, he knew he was in love with Lucy. At first it had been just a fierce protectiveness of his nakama, but at some point it turned into more. He had truly recognized it when he was about to lose Lucy on Tenrou Island.

 **NATSU POV *Flashback (Episode 109)***

Lucy, Happy and I were facing off against one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, called himself Kain. He had this weird voodoo doll called Mr. Cursey, which he infused with Lucy's hair. Once Happy managed to get the doll away, I was going to attack when Kain trapped me under a bunch of boulders. I couldn't move and Lucy was about to summon one of her spirits, Virgo I think. Then this weird look crossed over her face and she paled drastically. She didn't need to speak to tell me that she was out of magic.

Kain approached her from behind and I screamed, "Run away!" But it was too late, Kain attacked her by slamming her face first into the ground. Hearing her strangled scream caused anger to flow through my veins. I yelled at Kain, "Leave her alone!" I pushed at the stone that was trapping me and I growled, "Come on!" Desperation was beginning to lace my voice.

Kain laughed and said something, but the word that caught my attention was "execution". I snarled in rage and screamed, "You bastard!" Happy flew in and tried to help Lucy but he only got knocked away into a stone wall. I heard Lucy murmur something and I gasped, "Get away Lucy!" I added quickly, "You've got to chase down that fraud or we'll lose her!" I didn't know who the woman with black hair was but she had taken Zeref, and that means she's going down.

I continued, "Don't worry about me just keep running and don't look back!" I had to protect her. Lucy was truly in danger if she stayed here. I still had a fight left in me, and I would be even stronger knowing that she was safe.

Lucy grimaced and muttered, "No way…" _WHAT?! Doesn't she understand what is happening? If she stays then she will die!_ Kain stomped on her spine and another scream ripped its way from Lucy's throat. He did it twice more, while I could do nothing but watch with horror and…fear? _Yes…this is what Gildarts was talking about. I'm…afraid…afraid of losing Lucy._

Kain wrapped his large and blocky hand around Lucy's head but she continued to speak, gaining strength with every word, "I refuse to run away. I won't do it!" Kain lifted her into the air now by her head. She chuckled, "I'd rather stay here with you." She flashed me one of her famous smiles, but I could tell that it was weak. Her entire body was quivering, most likely from her lack of strength and her body's fight to survive. "I can't think of anything that would make me happier."

My heart skipped a beat with those words and I felt some of the anger directed at her stubbornness fade into sadness. I could relate with her. I would do exactly the same thing. Her bruised face faded back into one of pain. Lucy groaned and whimpered as Kain lifted her even higher.

He said, "Well I guess that's one way of saying goodbye. I can't wait to pop that cute little head of yours off."

Rejuvenated anger towards Kain caused me to start my escape attempts anew. I cried out, "You let her go!"

Kain warned, "Careful. You'll break my concentration and I won't squeeze hard enough the first time." As a demonstration, he squeezed Lucy's skull harshly and a weak scream tore itself from her injured body.

I snarled angrily at Kain and was pushing at the rocks when I saw it: the voodoo doll from earlier in the fight. It still even had Lucy's hair on it. I picked it up and began to move it around in various positions. As I contorted the doll, Lucy herself fought against Kain and before long, Kain was lying on the ground, defeated. While it took me a while to get out of the rocks, I never felt better. I managed to protect Lucy in this nearly-impossible situation and we had won.

 **PRESENT DAY**

While I may appear completely dense and pretty dumb most of the time, I do recognize a lot of the stuff that happens around me. I just don't really talk about what happens in my head. I do have a passion for fighting and being number one, and while it appears that that is all I care about, it isn't. Lucy is the first person since Lisanna to understand. I think that had Lisanna never gone to Edolas, I would have fallen hard for her. But since she disappeared, I can't think of myself with her in that way anymore, because now it is all about Lucy.

I turned away from the dark night sky outside my window and slowly raised myself out of the hammock. I glanced over to look at Happy before I remembered that he had stayed with Wendy and Carla tonight. I sighed again and stepped out the door into the night air.

I don't recall actually walking, but the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of Lucy's place. I looked up at the cozy little structure and smiled, remembering all of the funny memories Team Natsu has had here. With a pang, I also remembered that if it weren't for Lucy's father, this place would no longer be hers.

I knew what it was like to lose a parent. However, I wasn't sure which was worse: disappearing and not knowing what happened to the parent, or the parent dying and knowing they would never be seen again. I decided that Lucy was definitely going through the more difficult of the two. She lost her mother, and now she doesn't have a father either. Even though her father was responsible for the attack from Phantom Lord Guild, I could tell that Lucy was devastated at his demise. She didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.

Jumping high, I reached Lucy's window and glanced inside. She was sleeping on her side, her covers carelessly tossed off of the bed. As I watched her, she seemed to be shaking and reaching for something. I knew exactly what she was looking for and climbed through the window, entering the place where I always get Lucy-kicked out. I picked up the covers and draped them back over her body. While she grabbed them and cuddled deeper into the cocoon of warmth, I noticed a pained expression on Lucy's face.

 _I can't believe it…Luce's having a nightmare too…I guess that makes sense. She has been through a lot lately._ Knowing that this would probably cause me a world full of hurt in the morning, I lay my body down next to hers. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. Inhaling her sweet scent, I noticed that as I did this, I saw Lucy's face relax into a more peaceful one. _This always seemed to do the trick before, at least that hasn't changed. Maybe someday I can do this with Lucy's permission. Maybe someday I could say something about I feel._ I smiled slightly at the thought. The smile faded away quickly as I silently chastised myself. _I can't say anything. There is no way she feels the same way about me. I can't ruin the friendship that we already have._ Relaxing my body, I allowed my eyes to close.

Before I faded back into sleep, I hoped that I would not have those nightmares again, not with Lucy by my side. The nightmares showed the fight with Kain, except this time, I was forced to watch as she was killed again…..and again…..and again. This time, I couldn't save her.

 **This is my first ever Fairy Tail fanfic so I hope you enjoy! This is definitely going to be one of those longer series and hopefully I can update it every so often with a new chapter.**

 **Also I have only watched the anime until the Key of the Starry Heavens arc and I haven't read the manga so please no spoilers!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: A Moment in the Bathroom

 **LUCY POV**

The morning sun's rays came streaming into my bedroom with the most gorgeous oranges and yellows. _What a wonderful way to wake up in the morning. Wait…I can't move. Is there something next to me?_ I turned my head the best I could and my heart dropped and blood rushed to my face. I realized that Natsu was lying down next to me, essentially…spooning with me.

His eyes were shut and his chest was rising and falling steadily with his rhythmic breathing. His nose twitched slightly in his sleep and I struggled to suppress a giggle. He must be dreaming about food again. That's what he always does. This wasn't the first time that I had awoken to him being in my bed, and I was sure it wouldn't be the last.

When he first showed up, I freaked out and was terrified that he was some kind of pervert. But when I really thought about it, he didn't strike me as that type. Since then, I haven't really objected that much. If anything, I kind of liked it. The idea of waking up next to somebody every morning was very appealing and at that thought, I felt a pang of sadness.

 _If I hadn't been trapped on Tenrou Island…If I hadn't begged Cana to be her partner…by now I would probably be married and have kids like Alzack and Bisca. I would have been able to make more amends with my father and be at his side when he had died._ Tears were threatening to stream down my face and I stopped myself. It wouldn't do to keep on crying about all of this. This was my reality and I would just have to deal with it.

I looked over at Natsu again and smiled again. He seemed to always have that kind of effect on me. He was just so crazy and reckless, but it was never boring around him. I loved his energy and passion, despite the fact it goes mostly towards fighting the others. _Wait…LOVE?!_ _Did I really maybe…?_ I silently shook my head. _I can't…he and Lisanna are so much closer than him and I could ever be. Sure he gets unbelievably furious whenever I am in danger but I'm sure he would do the same for Lisanna. He was just so happy when she came back._

Careful to not disturb the bed too much, I climbed out of it and went into my bathroom and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I looked like I had been to hell and back. My face was unnaturally flushed, my hair a tangled mess and dark bags hung beneath my brown eyes. The eyes that seemed so full of life all of the time now seemed to be duller than usual. I sighed as I remembered that for the past week, whenever I tried to sleep, I would wake up as though I had not slept at all! Nightmares plagued me in sleep and when I woke up, I could barely remember them at all.

A flash of pain shot behind my eyelids and I managed to prevent myself from gasping. Ever since Kain had held my head like that, my head feels as though as it is on fire 90% of the time and thanks to Natsu, I know what it's like to be on fire. I held my head between my hands gingerly and decided that I should have a bath just to help myself relax. Maybe that would help with the pain. I can't have myself stumble like that during a job or battle. If it did, I would be even more vulnerable than I normally am.

Closing and locking the door, I stripped off my sleeping clothes and turned on the water. Steam filled the bathroom quickly and when the bath was full, I stepped into the water and immediately regretted it. My legs seemed to turn into jelly and I unceremoniously fell into the bathtub…hard. My elbow and knee slammed into the sides and this time, I couldn't prevent myself from screaming. Crashing into the water, I tried to stand up but found that I couldn't move. My body had contorted itself in such a way that prevented me from doing anything and the body parts that I had hit on the sides were numb.

Crying, I realized that there was only one thing to do. My face heated up in embarrassment and I did the only thing I could: I screamed, "Natsu!"

 **NATSU POV**

Ever since I felt Lucy leave the bed, I've been silently watching her movements. I am surprised that she didn't kick me out of the bed like she did before, but maybe today she was in a good mood. I watched as she entered the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. When she clutched her head between her hands, her face twisted into that of pain, and I wanted to get up a comfort her but before I could, she closed the door.

I could hear the water running and I assumed that she was filling up the bathtub. Closing my eyes again, I imagined her scrubbing herself clean with the soapy water, her body obscured by the steam. I was about to drift off to sleep again when I heard a loud thud. My eyes snapped open and I heard a scream follow shortly after. Shooting up out of the bed, adrenaline flowing through my veins I heard Lucy's voice shout, "Natsu!"

Heart pounding, I rushed over to the bathroom and slammed my fist against the door. I shouted, "Lucy? Are you alright?" I could smell her salty tears from this distance and my stomach seemed to drop.

She cried out, "I fell into the bathroom and I'm stuck! I need your help!" I tried to turn the knob and found that it was locked.

I cursed to myself and shouted back, "The door's locked! I can't get in." Despite the fact that Lucy was in danger, I didn't want to invoke her wrath by destroying her door without her permission at least.

Lucy swore, "Dammit Natsu just break it down and come get me!" _Well she said it, not me._ With a swift punch, the door was ripped from its hinges and steam met my face. It was around this point that I realized something that I should have in the first place. _Lucy's probably going to be naked…_

One glance at the bath gave me my answer and I immediately shut my eyes. While I had seen her naked before by accident, this just felt even more awkward than before. _What am I supposed to do now?_

 **LUCY POV**

The sight of Natsu caused relief to course through my body. You could always count on him. He met my eyes and to my surprise, his widened and then immediately shut. His cheeks flushed red and it was only then that I remembered that I was naked. Heat flowing to my cheeks, I stuttered, "I need you to help me back to my bed and get me a towel okay?" With hesitation, I also added, "It's okay to open your eyes. This will happen faster and more efficiently if you have your eyes open."

 **NATSU POV**

 _Did she just say what I think she said?_ Slowly, I opened my eyes to find a very blushing Lucy. I acted quickly and gingerly picked her up out of the tub. She flinched and tensed against my body. _Was she in pain? I'll ask her once I've done as she asked._ Her body up against mine in this way caused many inappropriate thoughts to shift in my head and I quickly shut down that part of my brain. Lucy's well-being came first. I can't be distracted.

Exiting the bathroom, I placed her back on her bed, careful to not look at her for too long in the wrong places. I grabbed her a towel and covered her with it. Now that the drama of the morning was averted, I noticed that she was shivering violently. _Probably because of being brought out of the water like that._ I sighed and then asked her, "Mind telling me what happened in there?"

 **LUCY POV**

Keeping my eyes lowered in embarrassment, I explained what had happened and as I spoke, I noticed that Natsu seemed nervous, shifting his weight from one side to another. When I finished, he picked up my elbow and only then I noticed that a large purple bruise was beginning to form. Another was forming on my knee. I was about to get up and go take care of it when Natsu beat me to it. He said, "You shouldn't be moving now. Let me bandage it for you." I was about to refuse when he said, "You aggravate that even further, you won't be able to leave your home for a while."

With his words, I nodded my assent as he got to work. As he fixed me up, I couldn't help but notice that despite the intensity his body language was portraying, his obsidian colored eyes held a gentle tenderness that surprised me. It touched my heart how much he was worried about me. It caused my chest to hurt when I remembered that he couldn't be mine. He was most likely only doing this since I was his teammate. It's not like he really needed me anyways. He and Happy were doing just fine before I showed up. If anything, I was a hindrance to the team. When Fairy Tail was facing off against Acnologia, Natsu was the one that gave me hope in the darkest of moments. When we faced off against Kain, Natsu told me to run away, that he could handle it.

Countless memories of him working to fight the enemy and protect me at the same time flooded my brain. Even just now, Natsu saved me from being trapped. A feeling of inadequacy layered itself on my shoulders. But I didn't cry. I didn't have any more tears to give at the moment. I decided right then that I would prove to Natsu and the entire guild that I wasn't weak, that I could hold my own against an enemy. _When I go to the guild, I will take a job by myself to prove that I am strong. I am strong. I have to be…_

 **? POV**

I began to smile. _My plan is slowly coming to fruition. All I need are a few more pieces and I will be able to complete my final task. I will succeed, even if it is the last thing I ever do. I will make you proud…father._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Strange Parallels

 **NATSU POV**

Lucy and I were walking together to the guild hall in silence. Ever since what happened in her bathroom, she seemed to be distant. I wanted to strike up a conversation between us; I loved talking to her, but she kept on shutting me out. I desperately hoped that she wasn't angry with me, especially since I didn't do anything that she didn't tell me to do. _Was it maybe because of when I insisted that I help her bandage herself?_ I mentally shook my head. _Whatever it is, I hope she works through it. She's been pretty emotionally fragile. I don't think it's a good idea to keep pushing her._

Arriving at the guild hall, Lucy trailed off towards the bar where Mira and Kinana were serving the other members. I was about to follow when a chair collided with my chest. It didn't hurt at all; on the contrary, it made my heart beat faster in cool anticipation. It was easy to tell where the chair had come from: a brawl between Gray, Gajeel, and Elfman, as usual. I growled, "Hey! Watch where you're throwing ice princess!"

Gray looked over towards me and frowned. He replied coolly, "Then you watch where you're walking." I snarled and began to fight Gray. It was a great way to start my day after all. Although we were fighting, Gray and I have become very close over the years. We train with each other and test each other's limits. It's great.

Gajeel changed his arm to a metal rod which stretched between the two of us, effectively separating us. Glaring at him, he scowled and grumbled, "I'm not in the mood to fight you today Salamander. Honestly, I'm not in the mood to fight today period." His arm changed back to normal and he began to walk away when…

"Oi! Metal head!" I shouted at him, "Get back here so I can fight you!" Out of the corner of my eye, I just barely noticed that both Lucy and Levy were talking to each other near the job request board. This distracted me just long enough for Gajeel to throw one of his mega iron rod punches into my stomach. The wind knocked out of me, I gasped, "Okay, okay fine! Later."

Stumbling over towards Lucy, she tore off a paper from the board and threw it Mira shouting, "Let the client know that I'm on my way! Be back tomorrow!" Without even a glance in my direction, she virtually ran through the guild doors outside.

I looked over towards Mira and she looked as confused as I felt. I walked over to her and asked, "What's going on?"

Mira looked at me with a worried look and said, "I was going to ask you the same thing. Lucy told me about what happened this morning." She beamed, "Natsu saves the day again!" Her worried expression returned, "But something is up with her. She's been looking worse for wear every day and while I think that the job she took is easily doable by her…" she trailed off and I knew what she was thinking. Lucy isn't in her best form. With all the stress and turmoil that is probably going on inside of her head, she could have difficulty with the job. She isn't herself. Something just felt extremely off about this whole situation.

I had noticed this morning that she is actually a little thinner and she didn't look as picture perfect as she usually did. While I still thought that she was beautiful, I could tell that she looked sick. I wanted to go after her, but I knew that she wouldn't like that. She could handle herself. _So why do I feel so uneasy?_

Next thing I knew, a bright and cheery voice from behind me shouted, "I'm taking this job Mira! I'll be back tomorrow!" Without even turning around, I could tell that it was the bluenette best friend of Lucy: Levy. Her scent quickly faded into just a faint aroma as I heard her receding footsteps.

Mira glanced towards her left and her eyes widened. I followed her eyes and had a similar reaction. Her team, Shadow Gear, still remained seated where they were previously, looking towards the door with anxiety. _What's going on here? First Lucy, now Levy…_

As my thoughts wandered, the last person I had wanted to talk to approached me. His voice grumbled, "Salamander, you got a minute?" I was about to tell him off when my eyes met his. In his eyes, there was worry and fear. As much as I didn't like him, I decided to follow Gajeel and see what he wanted to talk about. We were both two male dragon slayers. I hated to admit it, but we were like brothers that could only understand each other.

Gajeel led me outside into the surrounding forest. It wasn't until the guild was out of sight when Gajeel stopped moving and turned to face me. He asked quietly, "This is going to sound completely out of the blue, but have you been having nightmares the past few nights?" My eyes widening seemed to be enough of an answer for him. He continued, "I'm worried about Levy. She hasn't been doing well since she got back from Tenrou Island. I know that she was in the running to become S-class, but still…" he trailed off. I could tell that he was truly becoming anxious and seriously began to pay attention when he didn't call Levy "Shrimp" like he normally did.

I asked him, "Have your nightmares been about Levy?"

Gajeel nodded and asked me, "Did that fire dragon of yours tell you about mates?" I nodded in response. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

I asked in return, "Is Levy your mate?"

Gajeel hesitated and replied, "Yes. I haven't claimed her…but yes." He added, "Bunny-Girl is yours right? She reeks of your scent. I doubt you've claimed her yet though because she isn't marked." I knew what he was talking about. "Marking" was a ceremony in which both parties received a magical mark from the other person. It waved all of the other dragon slayers away, and it made it so that our emotions were connected. Each could feel what the other could feel.

I waited for a moment and nodded. I knew I was in love with her. I just didn't want to scare her into something so suddenly. Connecting yourself to someone else is a major step; there is a rumor that for some dragon slayers, they and their mates went insane from the connection and took their own lives. I shuddered at that thought. I said, "Do you think the nightmares about our mates are coincidental?"

"No." Gajeel said decidedly, "But I don't have any proof to prove it. All I'm sure of is that I don't want Levy to be alone right now." He added, "This is just like I learned from Metalicana. When a dragon slayer has chosen a mate for himself, they begin to sense when something is amiss. Kind of like in normal battle, but more in tune with the girls." I agreed with him but at the same time…

"Lucy's been going through a rough time right now, with her father passing away before she came back and all. I think she just needs some time on her own." I thought about it some more and I said, "I agree that something doesn't smell right, but really, there's no proof. Maybe we are just being paranoid." Something in my head screamed that this wasn't the case. _What is going on?_

Gajeel looked aghast at the idea, but then he nodded. He said, "Levy said that she'll be back by tomorrow. You know when yours is supposed to be back?"

"Tomorrow as well."

"Then it's settled." Gajeel punched his hand, "If they aren't back by tomorrow, we can go after them and make sure they are okay." I was about to walk away when he added, "Salamander, if nothing has happened to them then we shouldn't interfere with their mission. If they want to take a solo job every once in a while, it's only fair…" _I think he is just trying to convince himself that nothing is wrong. It's going to be a long day without Lucy. Still…why do I feel like something horrible is about to happen?_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Who is she?

 **NATSU POV**

After the events of the morning, things at the guild seemed to be pretty quiet for the day. I fought with Gray twice more today. I was beginning to feel relaxed again. Until…

 ***bang***

The guild's doors shot open and ripped off of their hinges. Everybody was on their feet within a second and looked towards the woman who walked in after the dust had settled. She was holding a magical lacrima in her hands, which crumbled into find sand as she took her first steps inside the hall.

At first appearance, she was a very dazzling looking woman. Her wavy black hair fell to just below her waist, raised in just the right places as though she were in a photoshoot. Her tan flawless skin seemed to shine in the fading light of the sun. Despite the fact that she was wearing a very loose fitting sapphire colored tunic, it was obvious that her body was extremely well proportioned and she looked like a supermodel. What drew the attention of everybody however was her eyes that were constantly changing color. At first, they were brown, but the next second they were black, then red, then violet, the list went on and on.

Erza was the first to move. She was wearing her traditional torso armor overtop a school-like uniform and had yet to shift into another armor. She spoke, anger lacing her words, "Who are you? Why have you attacked our guild?" The mysterious woman said nothing. Erza was becoming agitated and her hand reached outwards and a long thin sword appeared. She implored the woman, "Speak! If you do not, we will be forced to hand you over to the authorities for the vandalism of our guild."

The woman's hands raised and I felt a surge of magical energy. I looked over at Gray and Gajeel and could tell that they could feel the same thing. It was building, and building, to the point that it was causing my head to spin. I heard the woman murmur, "I'm looking for two mages, and I heard that they were here: Lucy Heartfilia and Levy McGarden." I let out a low growl and Gajeel did as well.

Gray was the next to speak, "What do you want them for?"

The woman smiled, but something felt extremely wrong about it. Something about it seemed…feral. It reminded me of myself when I faced a foe. This wasn't reassuring. She calmly said, "They have something that I want. Something that only they can give me." My heart dropped into my stomach. _This can't be good…_ She continued, "Fortunately, they are not here. This just became immensely easier."

Erza snapped, "What do you mean by fortunately? What do you want them for?"

The woman's eyes gained a wild look and she smirked, "To end their lives of course."

 **GAJEEL POV  
** I awoke with a gasp with only one name on my mind: Levy.

Looking around at my surroundings, I recognized that I was still at the guild hall and nearly everybody was passed out on the ground. Climbing to my feet, I saw Salamander and some of the others trying to rouse those that were unconscious. I walked up to Salamander only to see that he was on the blaze of completely consuming himself in his flames. I hadn't seen him this angry in a long time.

I asked him, "What the heck happened?"

He looked at me funny and said, "You don't remember? That weird woman showed up asking for Lucy and Levy. We all ended up trying to fight her. You and I even teamed up at one point to attack her together, but she just took out two of those lacrimas and absorbed our magic. After that I have no idea what happened. I woke up to everybody knocked out." He punched his hand, some fire seeping out of the edges, "I swear, when I get my hands on her, she's going to have regretted messing with Fairy Tail."

While he was describing the fight, I vaguely remembered what he was talking about. The lacrimas that she had used were glowing green/silver and orange with our magic. After that, she cast some kind of black magic circle on the entire group and then it just went dark. Various images floated through my head, each more terrifying than the last. It mostly revolved around members of Fairy Tail in no-win situations, finally ending with Levy crying out for me. _I guess that's why I woke up._

I felt a tug on my mind and suddenly I realized something, "It's daytime already, isn't it?" Salamander nodded and looked at me curiously while bile threatened to rise up into my throat. _That tug…is like when I first realized that Levy might be in danger…_ "This is very bad. Both Levy and Lucy went out on solo missions just before that woman showed up looking for them. Since she escaped and they aren't back yet…I think that they could be in serious trouble."

Salamander's eyes widened as he realized the severity of the situation. He and I walked over to the redheaded knight and explained what I had just realized. She seemed to be hesitant at first, saying something about how we were some of the strongest members and needed to stay to protect the guild, but with our convincing her, she sent the two of us out to track down Lucy and Levy and make sure that they stay safe. She would stay behind to take care of the others. She gave us both specific orders that if we did find that something had happened to either of the girls, we were to come back, let the others know and together come up with some kind of strategy to help the girls.

It's kind of funny. Salamander and I used to be sworn enemies but now we seem to be agreeing on more and more lately. Both of us knew that if something had happened to either of the girls, we didn't want to waste time by coming back. Neither of us wanted to wait for backup. However, with one look from Erza, the matter was settled.

We decided that it would be better if we travelled alone and tracked one girl down each. Salamander would go after Bunny-Girl while I would go after Shrimp. It was agreed that we would both return back to the guild hall at the end of the day.

 _Hold on Shrimp, I'm coming for you._

 **While I am a huge fan of GaLe, I'm trying to make Gajeel seem different from Natsu but it's so difficult. They are like the same person!**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Kidnapped

 **(This chapter takes place during the day that Natsu and Gajeel were contemplating about whether to go after the girls or not, before the attack. Just from the girls' points of view.)**

 **LUCY POV  
** Rushing out of the guild, I kept on running until I got to the train station at the edge of the city. The job took place in somewhere called Zenthia, a place that is pretty close by even on foot. However, I knew I would get there faster and I would avoid a certain somebody if I took the train. _Why am I freaking out so much about this? Why am I running away?_ Shaking my head, I reminded myself that I needed to prove that I could take care of myself. I needed to get this done before Natsu or somebody else could drop in and destroy everything.

Luckily for me, a train leaving for Zenthia was leaving just as I arrived, and so I jumped on and took the first seat that was empty, which wasn't hard since the car I had walked into was nearly deserted. Besides myself, there only seemed to be an old woman on the other side of the car, quietly mumbling to herself. Allowing myself to relax, I watched out the window as Magnolia faded into the distance. It wouldn't be long until I got to where I needed to go and so I allowed my thoughts to wander. As always, they drifted to my salmon-color haired friend.

I sighed slightly and partially regretted how I had suddenly stormed out of the guild hall without saying anything to him. I touched the bandage he had put around my elbow and smiled at the memory. His hands on me, his eyes both serious and kind, his voice as he comforted me…

"Excuse me young lady?"

I jumped slightly at the voice and looked up to see the old woman from earlier. She seemed hunched over and leaning on a cane. She smiled kindly and asked me, "Are you getting off at Zenthia?" Shocked, I nodded. She cheered, "Great! Then can you help me with a small job?" She gestured back to her seat, "I just finished visiting my son and I have all of this stuff to carry. He helped me bring it all on but I'm not sure I can make it home. Can you help me?"

I let out a smile and said cheerfully, "Of course! I'm part of the Fairy Tail guild, I'll be glad to help you out!" Looking at her closely, I was surprised at how much energy she had for her age. Her hair was a solid gray and wrinkles covered her face, yet she had a bright and energetic smile.

"Thank you so much! I'll be sure to thank the Fairy Tail guild. They must be as kind as you!" She started walking back to her seat and I followed eagerly. _If Natsu were here I wouldn't be able to do this. I'm actually kind of glad that I get to do something nice for strangers without him._ I introduced myself and she seemed to fawn over me after that. A new glow appeared in her eyes and it was nice. Apparently I was somewhat famous. We started a general conversation and next thing I knew, I was carrying the majority of the bags off of the train while she walking calmly beside me.

We didn't talk much after that, I just followed her through town, watching her as we moved through the crowds. I chanced a glance over at her at one point and I was a bit shocked. Her expression seemed darker, angrier, and for a moment I was terrified. An image flashed though my brain, causing pain to shoot through my temples. I dropped one of the bags and clutched my head.

 _What was that just now? That image…it was Erza, Gray, Wendy, Juvia, Gajeel…and Natsu. They were all screaming and covered in…blood?! The others of Fairy Tail were on the ground…They weren't moving. Why did I see that?_

The woman had stopped moving and looked behind her towards me with a smile, "What's wrong?"

I shook my head slightly and said, "Nothing. How much farther is this place anyways?"

She smiled, "Not much further, just over that hill over there." She pointed and while she said it was a hill, it could barely be called that. My aching bones cheered at the prospect of this being over soon. We started walking again and I pondered over the image I had seen. Blaming it on the attack from Kain and head trauma, I decided that when I got home, I would let Wendy take a look at me.

We walked over the hill and by now, the sun was high in the sky, blazing down upon my neck. I wiped my brow and looked forward to see…nothing.

Confused, I looked over towards the woman to find her smiling at me, but this time it held no kindness in it. Instead, it was wild and uncontrolled, and I immediately reached for my keys; but, the keys that normally hung from my belt were no longer there. My whip was missing as well. Fear spiked in my chest, "Wha..? What's going on?!" The woman raised her hands and all around me, the world turned dark.

It felt as though walls formed around me and were beginning to close in. I began to scream, the sound echoing off the sides, adding to my confusion and distress. I felt myself begin to lose consciousness, and just before I let it take me, I whispered, "Natsu…"

 **? POV**

Looking at the girl on the ground in front of me, I smirked. That was almost too easy. I allowed the illusion to drop from me, reverting me back to my natural form. The girl was just too desperate, too easy to manipulate. _I wanted an actual challenge._ I sighed and picked her up. _One down…one to go._

 **(Okay for the next part, I'm just going to skip most of the beginning internal conflict stuff since it's the same as Lucy's.)**

 **LEVY POV  
** I looked at the young child by my side, surprised that she was able to understand the difficult texts placed in front of her. I asked her, "Where is your family?" She shrugged and I asked, "Can I take you home? Where do you live?"

The young boy mumbled an address and I immediately took his hand and stood, "Come on, your parents must be worried." We walked out the door of the library, out into the late afternoon sun. Walking for a while, I struggled to make conversation but the boy didn't seem interested to talk at all. Even so, he was able to read texts that even I was struggling with. _Who is he?_

Suddenly the boy pointed, "I recognize this place. If we go through here, then we will be at the house faster." Following his finger, I saw that he was pointing down a darkish alleyway. Even with my magic, I felt chills at the sight of it. Looking back at him, I saw that he was smiling for the first time and I couldn't help but smile too. Inspired by his happiness, I started forward. _If anything happens, I could use my magic, no problem. I was in the running for S-class after all._ I grimaced at the thought, remembering that I would be dead if it weren't for Gajeel. _That jerk._

He has been following me around, wondering if I was okay and no matter how many times I said it, he couldn't believe it. _He is driving me crazy!_ Together, the boy and I walked into the alleyway, confident that we would be fine.

Boy, how wrong I was.

I felt his hand slip through mine and I stopped, looking back towards him. His hands were clenched into fists and he was breathing hard. Even so, he was smiling, and I could tell that this was all wrong. I didn't get a single character out before I felt my legs give out on me. Visions of my friends being destroyed one by one played out before me in the alleyway as though they were being killed right now!

Screaming, I clutched my head and fell onto the ground. _The pain…it hurts!_ The last thing I saw above me was the boy smiling and bringing his foot hard down onto my head.

 **? POV  
** _What do these girls have that interest the boys so? They are so pitifully weak physically. But I can tell that they are stronger mentally._ I smirked slightly and dragged the bluenette off into the distance. _After I visit their precious guild hall tonight, the real fun can begin!_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Bonds

 **NATSU POV  
** As soon as I left the guild hall, I began running off towards this place called Zenthia. It was close enough to run to within an hour so I didn't bother getting on a train. _If I got stuck on one, I would be wasting time!_

As I followed the path to the town, I was thinking about the woman that had attacked. I wondered what she could possibly have against Fairy Tail. _The craziest members just returned from Tenrou Island. Maybe something happened during the seven years we were gone that the others didn't tell us about yet?_ I shook my head at the thought. _No, then why would they be targeting the two people that happen to be the mates of two dragon slayers._ Something wasn't adding up and I felt as though the missing answer was just out of reach. _What was it?_

Entering Zenthia, I rushed right over to the house that the job request was for. Knocking on the door, a man just older than myself answered. He took one look at my shoulder and gasped, "Ah! From Fairy Tail! Thank you for coming!" My heart dropped in my chest as he said those words.

I cut him off, "Sorry man, but I'm not here for the job request." The man seemed to deflate at that and I continued, "But my partner was supposed to have arrived here yesterday to complete the job. Did she not arrive?"

He shook his head slowly, "No. Nobody has been by to the house for two days." Anger and worry began to pump through my body. He must have seen the look on my face and asked, "Did something happen?"

I growled, "Yeah, 'something' happened." Just before I turned to walk away I added, "I'm sorry about the request but we probably won't be able to complete it for a while. Not until the problem is solved." The man nodded quickly and then promptly shut the door in my face. _Well, he was nice. Whatever, he told me what I needed to know._

I raised my head and sniffed the air. Lucy's scent still lingered in it, yet it was evanescent. I began to run in the direction of her scent, finding myself virtually running to the opposite side of town. Her trail led to a small hill and just then, my heart skipped a beat in my chest. Her scent immediately vanished, and was replaced by that of the woman who had attacked the guild.

 _No…no this can't be happening!_ I fell to my knees and punched the ground. Tears threatened to spill down my face as I shouted, "Lucy!" I bent my head and softly spoke to myself, "I was supposed to protect you. I was supposed to protect you…" I raised my head and screamed at the sky, "So why can't I find you!"

A moment later, I stood up, raw rage beginning to cloud my vision. Nobody took Lucy away, especially not the female attacker. I sniffed the air again and found the same thing: Lucy's scent disappeared from this very spot. The other woman's also just seemed to clump here, it didn't lead anywhere. She was taunting me.

Growling menacingly, I turned around and began to sprint back to Magnolia. Lucy was in trouble and I had a feeling if she was, then Levy would be too. _I got to find Gajeel. He'll kill me if I don't let him join in on saving the girls._

Arriving back at the guild hall, I first noticed that Gajeel had already returned, a gaunt and angry look on his face. At my appearance, his eyes brightened for a moment, but then darkened again. He slammed his fist on the table, spitting at Erza, "Now you see what I mean? We got to find them!"

"Yeah Erza!" I shouted, "I tried to track them but the trail doesn't lead anywhere!" I punched my fist, flames coiling up at my command. Gajeel's magical aura became darker and everyone around us took a few steps back. Two hot headed dragon slayers were enough, but if they got angry, all hell was about to break loose.

"Lucy's in trouble!"

 _Huh?_ I turned to face the newcomer and was shocked to see Loke standing there, tears streaming down his face, holding a pouch in his right hand. I gasped, "Where did you get those?!" They were Lucy's keys, each still packed snugly into the package.

Loke replied, "I felt that Lucy was in distress and tried summoning myself. When I summon myself I appear wherever Lucy's Leo key is." He threw them to me and I caught them in one hand, "I appeared in Lucy's apartment, and she isn't anywhere to be found!" Suddenly he gasped and I felt a stinging pain erupt in my head. It didn't hurt enough to cause me to fall, but it did leave me breathing hard. When the pain stopped, I noticed that Gajeel just then also began to gasp and hold his head in his hands.

"What…What was that?" I gasped. Loke began to sob loudly and held himself in his hands.

The lion-haired mage said, "I can't feel her anymore…"

"What are you talking about?" I growled.

Loke looked at me with a heartbreaking glance and quietly began, "Every celestial spirit that has a contract with a celestial wizard is connected. I can sense when she is in trouble." He quietly cried, "The bond that I have with Lucy just now snapped. I can't sense her anymore!"

Everybody in the guild hall gasped and Erza was the first to stand. She implored, "So what does that mean?"

Loke sadly replied, "The only time that happens is when the contract is broken. If the contract is not broken by the will of the spirit and/or the wizard, there's only one thing it could mean."

Nobody spoke for a moment until Gajeel asked me, "You felt it too, right?"

I nodded, "What was that?"

Gajeel looked even worse than he had when I walked in, "It's rare, but it's maybe possible…" he trailed off, mumbling to himself. Looking at me, he sighed and said, "There is a chance that because those girls are our chosen mates, the marking process has begun." There were gasps all around us at the word "mates" but he continued unfazed, "There is evidence that sometimes in times of true danger, the mates can sense one another's pain. Metalicana told me that." He put his head in his hands, "It's supposed to be just a twinge to let us know there is trouble. If it felt like that…"

I realized what he was saying and all of my natural warmth drained from my face. I started towards the door only to find it blocked by the Thunder Legion. I growled under my breath, "Let me through."

"No." Bixlow said. He eyed me, well I assumed he did but I can't see his eyes, and said, "I can see your soul. It seems to be flickering dangerously. I've only seen that when a part of it is about to die. You better tell me what's going on here."

Tears finally came streaming down my face and I turned around to face the rest of my guild members. I shouted, "If Loke can't sense her contract anymore and both Gajeel and I can feel pain, there is a strong chance that the girls are being tortured right now. If we don't get to them ASAP, then the girls will die."

There was a brief moment of silence and then Makarov spoke for the first time that night, "Well you heard the boys. Split up into teams and track the girls down! BRING THEM HOME! They are members of Fairy Tail, members of our family. When we find them, make the one who is responsible PAY!" Shouts of assent echoed throughout the guild hall and within a few moments, I was travelling with Gray, Erza, Wendy, and Happy throughout the town, searching for our missing team member.

 _Hold on Lucy…I'm coming for you. Just stay strong until I get there._ I felt another stinging pain in my side, stronger this time, and I could almost hear Lucy's screams in my mind. Closing my hand around her celestial keys, I silently promised that once we made it through this, I would tell her how I feel. _No more delaying. It's time for action! It's time to prove to everybody that I was worthy of being Lucy's mate._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Split Soul

 **NATSU POV**

Our team scoured the town and the surrounding area for hours…which turned into days…and finally into weeks. Still, just as with the first day, nothing ever came up. I was near frantic and borderline insane over the fact. There were a few times that I felt the pain in my side again, so intense that when it faded, I was terrified that it was all over. That we were too late. However, Bickslow showed up from time to time and assured me that my soul was intact for the time being, despite the pain I felt.

I haven't really slept since Lucy disappeared. When I tried, I was tormented by nightmares of Lucy being hurt and killed, just like before. When she was at my side, I was able to sleep peacefully, yet without her, my body seems intent on destroying itself.

Gajeel didn't look much better himself. His eyes were extremely bloodshot and he growled at anything that seemed off. I don't know how much longer either of us can handle this…

 _But I won't give up…even if it kills me, I will make sure Lucy and Levy return home to Fairy Tail, safe and sound._

Everybody else at the guild felt the same way too. We haven't taken any job requests for the past month because all of them were searching for clues in other towns. Even members that Lucy hasn't really met yet have helped out in any way they can.

However, at the beginning of yet another empty and lonely day, I fell to my knees as a mind boggling pain swept through my body. I nearly screamed out, barely hearing the cries of worry from my friends. This pain was different from before. Now, it felt as though my body was being ripped in half, piece by piece. After an indefinite amount of time, the pain abruptly ended and I was left breathing heavily, choking slightly.

Hugging myself, I had never felt as weak as I did in that moment. Trembling, I managed to pull myself to my feet. I didn't have to look at Bickslow to ask him what had happened. It was what I had feared would happen this entire time. The entire guild hall was silent, on edge, waiting for my reaction. I then noticed that Gajeel had had a similar reaction as myself. His magical aura began to solidify around his body and iron scales formed all over. I felt my fire flare up and the area under my eyes harden. Hearing Erza gasp, I realized that I was slipping into my Dragon Force form.

Suddenly, a familiar scent wafted into my nostrils. My heart began to race and I growled low. Gajeel did the same. We both took off into the town, not stopping for the cries of our friends.

At this moment, we both looked as though we had been training and fighting together for years, rather than just for weeks. Both prowling through the streets, we didn't stop moving until we stood in front of an abandoned looking hospital. Its decrepit façade seemed as though it would crumble under the tiniest amount of pressure. But there was no doubt about it.

The pounding of feet quickly approached from behind. Turning, I saw Erza leading all of the other members of Team Tenrou behind her. Seeing my expression, she looked up at the building with in her eyes. She asked, "Is this where that woman is?" Both Gajeel and I nodded in assent. Erza requiped into her normal clothing with a bandaged midriff and red flaming pants. She didn't know exactly what to expect, so she started off basic.

Just then, a loud voice was emitted from somewhere inside the building. I growled, recognizing it at the woman's. She said, "You managed to find me even more quickly than I had anticipated. Very impressive, First Salamander and First Black Steel. Or should I say, Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox." The tension hanging in the air was palpable. I wanted nothing more than to go inside this building and kick the woman's butt for what she did to Lucy. It was clear that Gajeel wanted the same revenge for Levy. She would pay for killing the two girls.

Suddenly, a familiar dark energy permeated the air and with a swish, the woman appeared in front of us. Her head was initially facing downwards and her eyes were closed. She began to murmur what sounded like a spell:

 _From the one born of darkness_

 _Let the magic come to light_

 _Turn this blinding shine of day_

 _Into never-ending night!_

She raised her arms up high above her head and fear spiked in my chest. While nothing came out of her hands, the sky above our heads, while normally a bright blue at this time of day, began to turn black. It wasn't long before the entire atmosphere had been darkened.

Along the path, some torches flickered into life, allowing its faint light to flicker across the woman's gaze. _Actually, something about this seems familiar. Have I fought her before? Sometime before Tenrou Island?_

Suddenly I heard a gasp from behind me and turned to see Makarov pointing at the woman. He began to mutter, "No way. It can't be! You?" His "children" all looked towards him in confusion. The woman then laughed darkly.

She gleefully spoke to us, mocking our fear, "It's about time somebody recognized me. I was wondering if you had forgotten about me." Her right eye then turned blood red, while the other remained ever changing. She raised her arms and within seconds, everyone was surrounded by purple jello-like beings. Her magical aura began to increase yet again, causing a familiar fear to enter my mind. My heart stilled as I realized what was so familiar about her magic. _These beings….they are like the ones that served Hades back on Tenrou Island!_

Gray seemed to realize this as well, and shouted at the woman, "Who are you? The only person we know with this magic is dead. He died seven years ago." While it wasn't Fairy Tail's fault, we remembered how distraught Gramps seemed to be when he heard the news.

The woman smirked and said, "Well aren't you in luck? You get to fight the second generation of that lost magic." She tied her hair up behind her, "My name is Melinoe." I heard Gramps gasp behind me. The next words that came out of her mouth caused chills to go down my spine, "and I am the daughter of the late master of Grimoire Heart Hades. You defeated him by pure dumb luck and prevented him from defending against his demise from the hands of Lord Zeref." Louder gasps were now emitted. _That crybaby was the one who killed Hades?_ The woman faced us, triumph present in her face, "Now it is time to pay for your crime."

 **So now you know who she finally is! Hope you enjoyed this installment of "Our worst nightmare"!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Nightmare or Reality?

 **NATSU POV  
** Melinoe laughed at our dumbstruck expressions and continued with her rant, "I've waited for this day for over seven years and now it finally arrives." She held her hand up and the monsters reared to her call, "I have studied my father's magic and my own Nightmare magic for my entire life, hoping that I would be able to face a formidable foe someday. Doesn't look like I will get the encounter I desire after all."

Erza requiped into another armor, her Purgatory armor. I didn't know that she had gotten it repaired after the battle in the Tower of Heaven. Just looked at it gave me chills. She spoke, authority lacing her voice, "Why did you kidnap Lucy and Levy?"

Melinoe's eyes brightened, "Oh, the two girls? To get your attention of course." She stroked the head of one of her summoned monsters, "I've been studying your guild for years and it didn't take long to recognize that Dragneel and Redfox intended to claim the two girls as their mates. It was the easiest way to get you to notice me." A thoughtful look crossed her features, "Oh, how silly those two were. It was almost child's play making them scream for mercy."

Something snapped inside of me and I lunged, Gajeel following closely behind me.

"Fire Dragon…"

"Iron Dragon…"

I think we were both about to say "roar" when the image in front of us changed. Instead of seeing her with the monsters surrounding us, I saw Lucy and she was about to be killed by Kain…again. Shocked, I was unable to focus and one of the monsters grabbed me from behind restraining me fully. I looked to see that Gajeel was in a similar position.

Melinoe looked at us with disdain, "Pathetic. Haven't you listened to what I said? I practice Nightmare magic." The image in front of me morphed into one where Lucy was about to be consumed by Acnologia. I screamed out and Melinoe continued, "I can see your greatest fears and make them come to life." She looked back towards the group, smiling darkly, "Haven't you been sleeping well these past few nights?" Mutters and shouts erupted and I realized that Melinoe was the cause of my insomnia and quite possibly, everybody else's as well.

She continued, "I wanted revenge for what happened to my father. What better than to take the ones the powerful dragon slayers care about the most and break them?" She giggled harshly, the sound hurting my ears. Still trapped against the monster, I couldn't focus long enough to surround myself in fire and a pounding fear returned.

She tapped a finger against her chin, "You know, something I always have been interested in is using my nightmares to break someone's mind. The moment at which the mind just ceases to function…ahh…is such a beautiful experience." She grinned, "So that's exactly what I did to your precious girls." My blood went cold and I froze my struggling. She added on, "Every day, tormenting them with their worst nightmares. Their screams were mingling together in harmony." Gajeel struggled anew against his captor's grip but I could tell that he wasn't getting anywhere either.

Melinoe frowned, "Then they started to fight against it. They said that they weren't scared of me anymore." My heart leaped in my chest. _Lucy…._ Melinoe said, "They stopped screaming and that made me angry."

Her eyes glittered with mirth, "So I decided to move on to the second part of my plan a little bit earlier than I had expected." She didn't go into what this "second" part of the plan was and instead said, "In the end, they were cursing everybody at Fairy Tail." My heart broke at her words.

"'They haven't come to rescue us…They don't care about us…' they said." Melinoe laughed, "I saw that their minds were on the verge of snapping from the physical and mental pain that they had to endure. There was a moment towards the end, where one of them couldn't even remember Fairy Tail without being struck by a sudden intense fear. Fairy Tail did nothing but put her into trouble." I didn't know which girl she was talking about but I desperately hoped that it wasn't Lucy. _She would never say that about us…, "_ Then I had to wonder myself, 'Is this guild really the family that they claim to be?' For the first time in my life, I felt pity. They were so weak…so feeble…that I decided to end it today."

She raised her head, looking at the night sky she had created, "I. Ended. Their. Lives. I pulled their soul forcibly from their body and I released the spell blocking you all from finding me and I waited." She looked back at me, "And now I get to tell you all about what I did to them."

Finally, I managed to focus long enough to break free from the monster's grip. I turned it into a pile of ashes, anger running my body now. Gajeel managed to break free as well and we stood side-by-side. Turning to the rest of Fairy Tail, who were mostly struck with fear, we together said, "Fairy Tail! Do what we do best!" We pointed to Melinoe, "Kick this enemy into tomorrow!"

Erza roared her approval and slowly, the others did too. Together, the group lunged towards the other monsters while Gajeel and I lunged towards our main enemy. She smirked and we both punched forward to hit…air?

We both tumbled to the ground and turned to face her, seeing that her image was flickering away into nothing. I punched my fist, "Dammit! An illusion!" The others had almost immediately defeated the monsters with no problem at all.

Erza looked confused, "If she was an illusion, than why was I fooled by her?" _That's right. Erza's got her synthetic right eye. I don't know how Melinoe was able to fool her._ The woman's scent now led into the building and if I was right, it led towards the top floor.

Erza shook her head slightly as if to clear the confusion and said to the two of us, "Now remember what she said. She uses Nightmare magic and seems to have some control over the demons of the Underworld. She also takes pleasure in seeing the mental torment of a victim." She pointed to the building, "So we must not listen to a single word she says. Anything she says can conceivably weaken us in spirit, and that is our greatest weapon." She held her sword up in the air, "For Lucy! For Levy!"

"For Lucy! For Levy!" we answered back, our cries echoing into the nearly still air around us.

"Let's go Happy!" I shouted to my cat partner.

"Aye sir!" He shouted back. Happy, Pantherlily, and Carla each picked up their respective dragon slayers and flew up towards where Melinoe was definitely hiding. However, just as we reached the window, I slammed into something.

"An invisible barrier?" I screeched, "Coward!" I could see Melinoe just inside, smirking at my discomfort. Words appeared in front of me, saying: In order to enter the building from outside the enchantment, one must traverse through the building using its doors and entranceways. No flying through windows or destruction of the walls is allowed.

"So what does this mean?" Wendy asked nervously.

"It means child," Carla began, "We have to play her game until we can take her down." We flew back down towards the ground and explained to the others what happened. Freed looked astounded at this and raised his sword to cut through the barrier when even more words appeared: Anybody who attempts to cut through the enchantment will be banned from entering this building.

Freed's eyes widened in surprise, "An adaptable enchantment?" He asked incredulously, "That kind of magic is extremely difficult to counter. Actually, I don't even know if I _can_ counter it." He looked towards the rest of us and said, "Carla is right. We must play by her rules until we can find an opening."

At the mention of the female Exceed's name, I looked towards her and saw her eyes wide open in fear, sweat slipping down her face. She was trembling in place. I asked, "Carla? What's wrong?"

She looked aghast and spoke, "It's just…I just had a vision. But…" she hesitated and breathing in deeply she said, "It doesn't look good." She shuddered and seemed to be on the verge of tears, "Some of what I saw must be a result of the nightmare magic. It's just not possible for these things to happen."

"What did you see?" Pantherlily asked carefully, "Your visions have been accurate up until now. What are we going up against?"

Carla shook and repeated, "It's just not possible…" she trailed off and looked directly at Gajeel and me. She started, "What I saw, was Gajeel and Natsu fighting in battle."

Cana was confused, "What's wrong with that?"

A single tear trailed down Carla's cheek. She said, "What's wrong is that Natsu and Gajeel were receiving attacks and weren't even defending themselves. They were letting themselves be beaten."

A silence fell over the group. I was the first to break it, "Why would the enemy win? Melinoe is going to pay. Why would I let her win?"

Carla shrugged, "I don't know. I didn't see who the enemy was. They were standing amongst the shadows."

Gajeel then spoke again, "You know what, now that we know this, we won't let it happen. We will change our fate." He pointed to the door that seemed to be welcoming us inside, "but right now, we got to make Melinoe regret for messing with Fairy Tail." His arm turned into a bar of iron and he shouted, "So come on!" He took off running, with the rest of the team from Tenrou Island following closely behind. _We need to win today. For the nightmares to stop. For Levy…and for Lucy._


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm really bad at writing battle scenes so a lot of it is probably going to be just skimmed over until the epic final battle, which is coming up soon (But it probably will last for a few chapters) Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter Nine: Hope Turns into Horror

 **NATSU POV**

Entering the building, we were immediately encountered by many monsters that clearly Melinoe had summoned. After quickly dispatching of them, a video lacrima floated down from the ceiling. After crackling to life, the image that it presented to us caused gasps and shouts of anger to echo throughout the group.

It was Lucy and Levy, but they were still alive! They were both tied up against the wall, currently blindfolded. They seemed to be talking to each other, attempting to comfort themselves. Otherwise, they both seemed physically healthy. If I had to guess, this was taken just after they were both taken. Then the door banged open and Melinoe walked in. She immediately took off their blindfolds and they watched in amazement as she flickered into the image of an old woman and a young boy.

Melinoe changed back into her original form and was saying something. We couldn't really hear the words at all, yet whatever they were, did not sit well with the girls. Lucy and Levy looked furious, yet under their fury, I could tell that they were becoming increasingly nervous. Gajeel tensed beside me and was holding his breath. I was doing the same.

Eventually, Melinoe raised her hands and from I could tell, nothing seemed to happen. Then, the girls began to scream. Clearly, the girls could see something that we could not. Although I could not hear Melinoe's words before, I could hear the screams as though they were emitted in this room.

There were various snippets that separated the screams. Something along the lines of:

"STOP PLEASE!" "NO! Master!" "What do you want from us?!" "Erza! Get up! Please!"

Similar dialogue and screaming continued for an indeterminate amount of time, since before the screams cut off, the video lacrima in the air cracked and broke into dust. Everybody just stood there silently, letting this new bit of realization sink in. I realized that the nightmares that I have experienced were nothing, _nothing_ , compared to what Lucy had to endure.

A door flew open off to our left, inviting us to continue up the stairs, one step closer to Melinoe. Erza sneered, "She taunts us. She wants us to play her game."

Elfman shouted into the air, "Come down and fight us like A REAL MAN!" There was no response.

The others looked towards Gajeel and myself, and I realized that they were waiting for our order. Lucy and Levy were closer to us than to anybody else that was here. We all wanted revenge,

Gajeel finally spoke, his usually deep voice cracking slightly, "We keep moving. Nobody insults Fairy Tail like that and gets away with it." Without another word, we kept on going up the path that Melinoe had forced us to traverse. Each floor met with more and more demons and monsters, yet they just seemed like child's play against all of our strength. It was clear that while Melinoe was Hades's daughter, she did not possess his strength when it came to summoning monsters at her call.

After each wave, there was another video lacrima that would appear, each presenting a short film of the torture sessions. Slowly, as we made our way up to the top, we noticed that the girls in the videos were becoming frailer, their expressions losing some of its brightness. My heart broke to see the girls in such pain. _That must have been what I have been feeling all of this time._

Finally, after hours of battling and watching, we reached the top floor. Melinoe was sitting on a throne, looking bored when her expression glimmered at our entrance. She raised her arms in grace, "Welcome to my humble abode. I assume you have had a nice stay at Melinoe's Hotel of Nightmares?" Her voice was gentle, yet the tone was extremely mocking.

I pointed at her in warning. I could feel my feral half threatening to consume me, to destroy this woman piece by piece, feeling pleasure at her cries of mercy. However, I managed to keep that side down. _If I'm going to beat her, I want to be me. Not some kind of a monster,_ "We have played your game for long enough. It's time to end this."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Exhaling, she exclaimed, "Oh, must the game end so soon? But I've had so much fun toying with you." She sighed resignedly and stood. Her eyes shot open and a new gleam appeared in them, "Must I bring out my strongest ally?"

Laxus was the one to respond to this, "None of your previous allies stood a chance against us. What spirits could you possibly summon that could defeat us?"

Melinoe smiled mischievously, "You'll soon find out." She sat down in her throne again and spoke into the darkness behind her, "We have company!" She said it in such a sing-song voice, I wanted to punch her in the face. But nothing in the world could have prepared me for what emerged from the shadows flanked Melinoe.

Standing to the sides of Melinoe were two figures: one tall and one short. The one on the left of Melinoe their hand clenched into a fist, fire swirling around it. The one on the right's left arm was a metal rod. The left one had onyx colored eyes and their skin is tinted blue. The right one had blood red eyes and their skin seemed to fade slightly in the darkness. Both were grinning toothily with sharp fangs, smirking at our horrified expressions.

They bowed in front of Melinoe, "We have answered our master's call. We shall eternally serve our master."

Melinoe smirked and shouted, "May I introduce to you all, the second fire and iron dragonslayers! Lucy Heartfilia and Levy McGarden!" The girls stood to their feet and turned towards us. Their eyes flickered dangerously with magical energy. We all were frozen in place in fear. _This can't be happening…this can't be real! It must be one of her illusions._

Bickslow removed his helmet and looked darkly towards Lucy and Levy. He seemed to be about to speak when Melinoe shook her finger at us, "No no no!" She giggled, holding Lucy's face in her hands, "You don't want to destroy them completely after all, do you?" Bickslow froze in place, "Yes, I know your power. You can see that their bodies are possessed by dark spirits and you were about to try and control them, in order to force them out of the bodies. But let me tell you," she brushed her arms, "if you attempt to do anything of the sort, I will destroy their bodies before you have a chance to save them."

She shook her head and sang in a high-pitched voice, "This is the final round of my game. If you can defeat me, I will give you their bodies back." Nobody responded to her words so she continued, "Of course, to do that, you have to go through my bodyguards first. They are unbelievably protective." Lucy and Levy didn't move, and I could feel a familiar magic wave seeping out of them, "They seemed to have inherited some of your own dragonslayers' personalities during the transfer."

Loke looked extremely aghast at the idea of fighting his own master Lucy. He shouted, "What do you mean 'transfer'?"

Melinoe smiled wide and held up another lacrima, this one growing in size to cover the entire side wall. It began to show another video, except this time, it appeared to be some kind of sick documentary as the title screen showed:

"Creating the Next Generation of Dragon Slayers"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Birth of Second Dragonslayers

 **NATSU POV**

The video began with what we had seen previously on the other lacrimas. This time though, Melinoe voiced over, telling us each what was happening, "I started off by breaking into their minds. They fought so hard at first. You would have all been so proud of how hard they fought." I clenched my fists and everybody tensed. Lucy and Levy's screams echoed through the room again but this time, we saw them fall unconscious. This must have been pretty recent as the girls looked extremely gaunt and weak.

We watched as in the video, Melinoe took out two glowing lacrimas and I gasped. Gajeel did as well. Those lacrimas were glowing green and orange, the same lacrimas that she had used to absorb our power when we felt battled her. She chanted something and the lacrimas floated to above the girl's head, the green one above Levy's and the orange one above Lucy.

They began to glow and Melinoe walked up to the girls. Holding her hands in front of their chests, she murmured something again and an area around their hearts began to glow. Then, the girls began to scream again as the light in their chests were beginning to draw out of them, until there was nothing left to draw out. Their heads fell down and hung limply, looking extremely pale and with a pang, I realized that they were dead. Melinoe held the lights close for a moment and then dropped it onto the ground. She picked up her foot and proceeded to stomp harshly on them.

Watching this all occur in front of me, I felt another pang in my side, remembering how it had felt when a part of my soul vanished. This was the moment. This was the exact moment when Lucy…my Lucy… died. My dragon's rage threatened to take over again and I felt flames begin to consume my body. Melinoe stopped and the lacrimas lowered down into the girls and faded away. Melinoe summoned two other demons, these looking stronger than those that we had seen before.

They approached the bodies and slowly, they poured their essence into them. After a while, the demons vanished into the bodies and what was Lucy and Levy suddenly gasped awake. Their eyes were black and red, respectively, and their teeth lengthened. They smirked and then, the video cut out.

The real possessed Lucy and Levy still stood quietly, waiting for something. The real Melinoe then spoke, "While my Nightmare magic and the magic my father taught me are strong, my specialty is magical lacrima surgery. I briefly studied your own second generation dragonslayer as inspiration for this one." Laxus growled slightly at that, "I've never used a dragon slayer magic lacrima before. I wasn't sure it would work. There was a slight chance that in my hands, they would burn up. But they didn't."

She finished with, "If you can defeat me, I will give you their bodies back. Otherwise, they will remain my servants for the rest of time. Lucy, Levy dears," she waved her hand lazily, "Take care of them."

Levy smirked, her skin covering itself in iron scales, "With pleasure Melinoe. There ain't enough space on the earth for two iron dragonslayers."

Lucy clenched her fist and fire appeared in it. With a wild gleam in her eyes she cackled, "Oh yeah! I'm all fired up now!" Together, they lunged towards us. On instinct, I blocked the attack and nearly counterattacked when I saw Lucy's face. Without meaning to, I froze. Next thing I knew, I was flying across the room, a slight pain in my side.

Disoriented, I look around to see that there are more summoned monsters surrounding my friends. They weren't going to be able to help me take Lucy down, and I could see Gajeel dodging Levy's attacks. While he was doing better than I have, I noticed that he wasn't attacking Levy either. _This isn't good…I can't attack Lucy. It isn't really her…but I don't know if I can attack her._

As I stood pondering my options, I saw Lucy take a deep inhale. She began to chant, "Fire Dragon…"

 _Oh crap._

"ROAR!" Fire spewed from her mouth and immediately surrounded me. It didn't really hurt, but I was low on magic energy from fighting the monsters from before so I began to inhale when I automatically gagged.

 _What the…? I can't eat these flames!_ It was then that I recognized the feeling that the fire Lucy had emitted. It was my own magic, my own flames. I couldn't eat them. It was probably because of the lacrima from before. It contained my own magic and so I couldn't do anything.

 _Dammit, what am I supposed to do now?_ Around this time, Gajeel came flying in my direction and crashed into me, "Ow! Watch where you're going metalhead!"

"It's not like I'm trying to get in your way!" Gajeel screeched back. Lucy and Levy moved to each other's sides and stood silently, waiting for something. Gajeel rubbed his head gingerly and spoke to me, "So what the heck do you think we can do?"

I spoke the first thing that came to mind and instantly regretted it, "Why don't we switch? I take Levy and you take Lucy?"

Gajeel looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Do you really want me anywhere near your mate?" _Absolutely not._

I glared back, "Well I don't see you coming up with any ideas!" A metal arm slammed into me and the wind was knocked out of me. Following the path, I noticed that this was Levy that had punched me.

Gajeel hesitated and then shrugged, "Well we just need to beat them enough so we can get to Melinoe."

My heart dropped, "Are you crazy!? Didn't you hear what Melinoe said? They inherited some of our natural tendencies and personalities. If that's true, they won't give up until they are virtually dead!"

Gajeel looked at me regretfully, "We've got to try. You beat me once before. Just do it again." His skin turned into iron as he activated his magic. His eyes glittered darkly, yet I could tell that he was terrified. Neither of us wanted to fight them. Something that I am known for is going overboard in a battle. But if I go overboard now, I will kill my mate, the worst crime a dragonslayer can commit. Conflicted, I allowed a part of my violent half to take over.

Fire consumed my body and distantly I could hear Melinoe laughing. Lucy smirked darkly and she mirrored my own actions. I lunged towards her and we met in the middle.

I don't remember much about the fight. I do remember that the others from Fairy Tail had finished fighting at one point and just stood off to the side, awe and fear written across their faces. They didn't go after Melinoe for some reason, but instead just watched silently. Gajeel and Levy were battling as well but I did not really pay attention as I was caught in the thrill of battle myself.

Both Lucy and I were breathing heavily, but for the moment, Lucy had the upper hand. Her eyes narrowed in concentration and she looked like she was going to use her Iron Dragon's Fist when…her eyes widened in…fear?

Her eyes widened and her skin which had initially been tinted blue paled back into a peach color. What shocked me the most were her eyes. Instead of them being black like before, they were now…chocolate brown?!

Lucy gasped and held her head in her hands. She groaned, which slowly turned into a scream. Another scream joined the air and I could see Levy holding her head as well. She was no longer covered in scales and she was crying. Lucy murmured, "Natsu…" and stumbled and started to fall forward. I reached for her and managed to prevent her head from slamming into the ground.

Cradling her gently, she sputtered, jerking around in my arms. Embracing her, she seemed to relax slightly in my arms and I barely heard her mumble, "Destroy my body…" I gasped and was about to retort when she said, "You have to stop her. I don't want my body to live like this. Please Natsu…" her eyes fluttered shut and she coughed.

I could hear Levy sputter, "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."

Lucy continued, looking me directly in the eye, "I'm sorry too…I was the cause of this…" Her voice was weakening with every word, "I just wanted to prove myself…to show you that I wasn't weak."

I gently replied, "You aren't weak. You are one of the strongest people that I know. You give me strength through your passion and spirit." I shook her slightly, "So you can't give up now. You haven't ever given up before. Didn't you say before that you wanted to stay with me? Because you couldn't think of anything that would make you happier?" Tears began to stream down my face. This was just like my nightmares. I couldn't help her in any way. She had to save herself.

I continued, "Well I feel the same way. I want to stay with you! Only you can make me happy." I rubbed away her tears that were beginning to form, and placed my forehead against hers, "So don't leave me." I took a heavy breath, "Please…"

I heard Lucy sob weakly, "Natsu…" Her eyes closed again and I could hear her heartbeat slow and her breathing hitched. She went limp in my arms.

Looking her over, I was about to panic when her head flipped back. Relief flowed through me until it turned into ice when she smirked, her black eyes mocking me.

She slammed her fist into my side and I crumpled to the ground. I could hear Melinoe's voice from far away and she spoke, "Interesting…it seems that their spirits are stronger than I had anticipated." She sighed, "No matter, they used the last of their strength to take over for a moment to say goodbye. Their souls have vanished permanently."

My heart dropped and I lunged towards her, grabbing her by her neck. Slamming into the wall, I screamed, "You give them back or so help me, I will leave you suffering in agony for the rest of your life. I won't burn you to a pile of ashes, but you will wish you were dead by the time I'm done with you."

She laughed, "Did you really think you could save them? I told you that if you beat me, I would give you their bodies back. I never said anything about their souls. "Squeezing harshly, her voice was cut off for a moment and I growled in anger. She continued, "Bringing back souls in their full form is next to impossible. Because you killed my father, I never got an opportunity to learn it from him."

Gajeel lunged towards her and was propelled backwards. I felt a pull on my back and I was wrenched away from Melinoe. Looking up, I could see Lucy standing there, looking furious. She spoke, her voice distorted by the possession, "You have touched my master. You will pay for what you have done."

It felt as though my heart was breaking. _Is there really no way to save the girls?_ I looked towards Gajeel and he seemed to have reached the same conclusion. The girls we knew and loved were gone. There was no way to save them and I would remain alone for the rest of my life. All that was left for me was to take revenge in the name of the one I loved.

 **Okay this story sounded 100x better in my heaad but I stink at writing so sorry if you can barely understand what I'm saying. But if you do understand, congrats! And I hope you enjoyed!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Fall of the Daughter

Darkness consumed my vision and for a moment, I panicked. _What can I do? Lucy is gone…and there's no way to save her…_ I straightened myself and used my ears to search for what was maybe happening. Hearing nothing, I settled back into my thoughts. _There's only one thing to do: follow through with her last wishes. Destroy the body. Defeat the spirits. Defeat Melinoe. Destroy this nightmare so it can never hurt anyone ever again._

A second later, it felt as though my heart stopped in my chest. Appearing before me was…Lucy?! She looked to be just fine, wearing her normal "clothing" (I call it "clothing" because there isn't much there.) She was smiling brightly, crying out, "Natsu!" She ran up to me and jumped up and down in excitement. She shouted, "We can go on a job today, okay? Just like you said." Just as she said that however, an illuminated figure appeared behind her and I could see that it was Kain.

I tried to warn her to move, to get out of the way, when she was pummeled harshly into the ground. I tried to speak again but my voice wouldn't work. Then I could hear another voice, one from inside my own mind, " _Concentrate Natsu. This isn't real. This isn't Lucy. This isn't Kain. You are being tricked…_ "

Disoriented, I lunged forward, through Lucy to find that she was only an image. Snarling, I allowed my power to surround me, fire going everywhere. I heard the voice in my head again, " _You are Natsu Dragneel. The girl Lucy Heartfilia is gone. This isn't real. You need to wake up."_

I screamed, "Fire…Dragon…ROAR!" Blowing fire out of my mouth, the darkness began to break and quickly shattered under the brunt of my raw destructive power.

Jumping out, I could see Melinoe holding her hands up, a very confused and nervous expression on her face. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Gajeel standing silently and he took on a battle stance. Melinoe muttered, "How is this possible? How could you break free of my nightmares so easily?"

I growled, "I've lived through my worst nightmare. I had to watch the love of my life die in front of my eyes. Nothing you show me can scare me."

Gajeel growled as well, "What scares you, I wonder?" A dark aura surrounded him and I could only imagine that I had a scary looking aura as well. Together we attacked. I don't know what spell Gajeel used, but it was one I hadn't seen before.

I shouted, "Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!" I had used this spell earlier yet this time, instead of being orange and red, the flames were yellow and green. I muttered to myself, "Lucy?"

I could hear Melinoe screaming but I didn't let up. She couldn't get away with what she did. After an indeterminate amount of time, her screams came to a halt and I finally let my power dissipate. I was breathing heavily, and I could hear Gajeel doing the same.

Suddenly, everybody who had been surrounding us before blinked in confusion and gasped:

"What the…?" "Did I blank out?" "What just happened?" Questions rang from every direction yet I didn't even care in that moment. Instead, I was watching one corner of the room the figures of Lucy and Levy remained. They held their heads in their hands and began to groan and moan in agony. Then, something black and stringy began to flow out of their mouths pooling onto the floor in front of them. I could recognize them as the spirits that were forced into Lucy and Levy during the video.

Immediately, Erza took one of her swords and sliced the demons into pieces. They screamed harshly, yet beyond that, the room was silent. I approached Lucy's crumpled body and fell to my knees beside her. Choking back a sob, I grasped her gently and brushed back a loose strand of her beautiful blonde hair. She looked as though she was asleep, except she had harsh burns all over her body. _That was me…I did that to her…_

Gray took one look at my expression and said, "Look man, it's not your fault. It was Melinoe's."

I gulped and replied, "Yeah…but I didn't even get a chance to tell her how I feel." I cradled her body close to me to see Gajeel doing the same. He looked as though he was about to fall to pieces as he viewed Levy's crumpled body. I looked back down to Lucy and cried, "I wish I could talk to her, just to tell her that I loved her. Not as a friend, but more than that. I wish we could have gone on more adventures."

Bowing my head deeply, I buried it in the crook of her neck, inhaling her quickly fading scent. _I need to memorize it…before it's gone forever…First Igneel and I've lost Lucy too._ I screamed at the air, "When will you stop taking from me?! I have nothing left to give!" Crying, I put my head on Lucy's chest and cried while lying there. Everybody remained silent as they watched their two natural-born dragonslayers mourn the loss of their futures.

Suddenly, Lucy's body began to glow slightly. Jumping back in shock, I stepped away from her only for the brightness to increase. I shouted, "Loke! What's happening? Is this some kind of celestial spirit thing?"

It was Lisanna that answered, "No Natsu, look! It's happening to Levy too!" I turned and true enough, Levy was glowing slightly as well with ethereal light.

Then Bickslow gasped. He muttered, "No freaking way…" He reached out into the air and he seemed to be searching for something. Then he cried out, "Lucy's and Levy's spirits are still alive!"


	12. Chapter 12

**I know I haven't been writing in Gajeel's POV for a while but I've decided to just put it in Natsu's POV for when I need it from a dragonslayer's point of view. Basically whatever happens with Natsu also happens with Gajeel so there's no point in switching back and forth every chapter. Anyways, hope you enjoy!**

Chapter Twelve: Rescue Mission

 **NATSU POV**

For a moment, I just stood my ground, stunned at this revelation. Then it finally sunk into my brain and my heart began to beat faster. I grabbed Bickslow by his shirt, not in a menacing way but in desperation and begged, "That means we can save them! You can grab wandering spirits and place them into vessels right?"

Gajeel finished my thought, "So you can put the girls souls back to where they belong." Bickslow briefly grabbed at the air and his awestruck expression turned into a deep frown.

He muttered, "I figured that that was going to happen."

My heart dropped. I yelled, "What do you mean? Can't you fix the girls?" My voice was becoming more desperate and angry. This was _Lucy_ we were talking about. He had to fix her.

Bickslow turned to me sadly and said, "Because their souls were stolen directly from their bodies, this is going to be much more difficult than we had originally hoped." At our confused expressions he explained, "When someone dies, their soul moves on into some spiritual plane, fading away. If that person's life is taken, as in murder, their soul moves into middle ground, neither fading, nor coming back into existence. However," He sighed and grimaced, "If a person's soul is taken directly from their body, the soul goes into kind of another middle ground, called the Soul Trap, except it is much weaker than that of somebody whose life is taken. Most souls eventually fade into a form of stasis in this plane because it saps their energy. But I can't just grab them from the air and put them back. The souls won't make the journey between planes."

I barely understood what he said but all I got was that Lucy was very weak in her current state. Gajeel growled grimly, "So what the heck can we do?"

Bickslow had a thoughtful expression on his face. He looked towards Gajeel and myself and said, "There may be…one way." My ears perked up and I listened as intently as I could. Bickslow said, "I've never done this before myself, but I've heard that it was possible. I can send people into the Soul Trap and those people can conceivably give the girls enough strength to get home."

Erza questioned, "Why can't you just give the girls the strength directly?"

Bickslow answered, "I can sense that their souls are disoriented and confused. They won't know what to do with the strength we give them. Besides, since Melinoe was the one who stole their souls, she was the only person that could coax them back. We have to do it a little bit differently. This way is also way more dangerous, but we don't have a choice."

I punched my fist into my hand, "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Gray put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Wait a minute Natsu, if somebody goes into that plane, they lose a good portion of their strength. If some of us did go in, we would be essentially powerless."

Bickslow continued, "He is right. Unfortunately, the amount of souls that need to be saved is proportionate to the amount of souls I can send in. I can only send two of you in to get the girls and bring them out of whatever chaos they are experiencing."

Gajeel and I both immediately replied, "We're in." Nobody argued. We were naturally the best people to maybe bring Lucy and Levy out of whatever confusion they feel. Besides, because we are naturally strong, we could retain most of that strength in the Soul Trap…theoretically. Besides, I'm not going to miss on my opportunity of saving Lucy.

Bickslow reached out his hands and said, "Alright, I have no idea what you will see in there, so you need to be on guard. You may lose yourself in there while trying to save the girls. Also, in order for our strength to be felt by the girls, you need to create a direct link with her, essentially, just keep in physical contact with her until you feel a pull similar to my magic. Then you will return here." He gestured to the others, "The rest of us need to stay here and focus our magic energy on their bodies. We need to support them as long as we can until they can come back." Everybody nodded in understanding.

He finally added, "And one more thing, we won't be able to keep you there forever. You've only got a little bit of time to get to the girls. Otherwise, I'm going to pull you out without them. You will die if you stay in there for too long."

Bickslow then told Gajeel and I to lie down, since our bodies would be essentially dead while we were in the Soul Trap. He readied his magic and I focused on memorizing his magical trace. (Everybody has one. Everybody's magic feels/smells different so he is just memorizing Bickslow's) Just before I felt his magic hit me, Bickslow said, "Good luck you guys. Bring them home." Then, intense pain flared through my body, more than anything I had ever felt before. It felt as though my bones were all snapping at once and my body was being crushed. I let out a loud scream, and so did Gajeel. Some of the others covered their ears in pain, as our screams echoed in the room.

Looking down at my chest, I could see a bright orange light forming outside of my body. A thin tendril of light connected me to that light and I could feel my consciousness fading. For a moment, I felt my dragon-instincts threaten to take over, to stop this from happening. Then I remembered Lucy. I allowed myself to relax with the happy memories I had experienced with her. All I could think of was her smile as I allowed myself to fall into darkness.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Inside the Soul Trap

 **NATSU POV  
** For a while, all I could see was darkness. I tried to shout out, to call for anybody, yet my voice wouldn't work. I guessed that I was in some kind of time stasis like I was on Tenrou Island, yet this time, I was aware of it. Then, I could feel a pang of magic energy. I looked to my side and I could see Gajeel standing nearby, his expression showing how confused he was. He then somehow spoke, "How the heck are we supposed to find anything in here?"

I worked my throat and somehow I found I could speak, "Good question. I can't smell anything in here."

Gajeel grumbled, "He wasn't kiddin'. I don't feel as strong as I normally do. We can't even smell as well in here." Just then, I felt a ripple in the air and I felt a little bit queasy. It wasn't like my motion sickness exactly, but something in the air felt...wrong.

I whispered, "You feel that?" Gajeel nodded and I saw him tense. Then the darkness that surrounded us began to dissipate. Beyond this darkness, an entire countryside appeared in front of us, complete with wild animals and a burning sun in the sky. I felt another pang of magical energy and I recognized it as Bickslow's.

"Alright," I said, "We don't have a lot of time, so let's get moving." Then I paused, "You have any idea of where to start?"

Gajeel shrugged and just then, I could hear a loud scream from across the plain. That just sounded like…, "LEVY!" Gajeel roared, and he took off running across. I started up after him. We both travelled through high stalks of grass. It was hard to see, but I managed to follow the screams and the trampled grass. Then, it finally opened up to a clearing where I was shocked by the sight in front of me.

Instead of the Levy that I knew, I saw a little girl, no more than five years old with short blue hair. She had magic glasses on and was wearing a headband. She was wearing a smaller version of the dress that Levy normally wore. Confusion seeped in when I realized that this was definitely Levy. Just not the one I had seen in my reality. I saw Gajeel approach her and touch her shoulder. When he did that, they both just vanished.

Worry began to form. While I wasn't a huge fan of Gajeel, he was like a brother to me and Levy is Lucy's best friend. Without Levy, I would have been trapped and prevented from stopping Laxus during the battle of Fairy Tail. There was a lot to be thankful to her for. Just when I was about to leave, I felt a flow of magical energy and Gajeel reappeared with Levy. Her eyes were wide with fear and her child form took off running.

Gajeel looked aghast and he was breathing heavily. I asked him, "What the heck just happened? You disappeared!"

He seemed to pale slightly and he wasn't moving from his kneeling position. He said, "I don't know exactly, but it must have been one of the obstacles that Bickslow warned us about. There were just so many terrifying images. If I had to guess, what I saw was what is going on in Levy's head." He finally stood to his feet, "If that's the state that Bunny-Girl is in too, we have a lot to more to worry about." Just then, I heard another scream that sounded like Levy, except this time, I heard another join it. My heart dropped and I felt fear creep into my veins.

"LEVY!" LUCY!"

Sprinting towards the sounds, Gajeel and I both moved as one, keeping up with the other. Eventually we stopped and the sight that I saw took my breath away. The child Levy was there, as was a large looming blob looking monster. What surprised me the most was the other child lying on the ground, being held by Levy. The girl on the ground was barely even moving. She had short straight blond hair and had a single gash across her face. She looked to be about five years old as well and her eyes were closed, but if I had to guess, her eyes were chocolate brown in color. I was looking down on the child form of my future mate Lucy.

Looking up at the blob monster, I felt my magic kindle inside of me and I inhaled deeply. I let out a quick Fire Dragon Roar to see that while it was effective enough, the amount of flame that came out was extremely small compared to what I had let loose against Melinoe. _This must be what Bickslow meant by being weakened in here. It's like my power is that of when I was younger._

The blob monster screeched and vanished into the air. Retreating back towards the girls and Gajeel, I could see that Lucy had awakened, her eyes wide in worry. I held my arms up in hesitation and gingerly asked, "Lucy?" As soon as I had spoken, she took hold of Levy's hand and retreated backwards, moving away from Gajeel and me.

Lucy screeched, "Stay away from me! Don't touch me!" The fear in her voice and eyes felt as though it would shatter my heart into a thousand pieces. _What..? Why is she running away from me?_

Gajeel looked as horrible as I felt. Levy then whispered to Lucy, "That's the man who I was telling you about." She was pointing to Gajeel. She then pointed to me, "Is he the one you told me about?" Tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

Lucy patted Levy gently on her back, looking intensely towards Gajeel and me and said, "Yeah. But don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you." She stood up and held her arms out wide in a protective stance. She screeched in a high-pitched voice, "I won't let you hurt her!"

I stammered a reply, "Lucy? W-w-w-what are you t-t-t-talking about?" I didn't understand. She was my friend. My partner. The woman I love. True, she was in a child's body. But why was she like this? Why does she not trust me?

Gajeel quickly replied, "Look little ladies, we have no idea who you are talking about," He placed an arm around me, "But we aren't them. We might look like them since we do have twins." Lucy and Levy perked up at his statement and I just got even more confused than before. _What the heck is he doing?_ Then I noticed that the girls seemed to have calmed down significantly from before, so I decided to keep quiet.

Gajeel kneeled down and said, "My name is Gajeel, and this here is Natsu. What are your names?"

I kneeled down as well as the girls spoke, "My name is Lucy." "Name's Levy."

Gajeel smiled, and even though it looked a bit menacing, the girls began to smile as well. He said, "Well we're going to protect you from some more of those monsters, if that is okay with you." The girls looked at each other and nodded. Gajeel clapped, "So, it's settled then! Do you know where you want to go?"

Levy frowned slightly and tensed. She pointed upwards to a dark mountain that I hadn't noticed earlier and said, "Lu-chan and I were going there. I can hear voices guiding us to the Magic Mountain. I feel like I know who those voices belong to, but I can't put a face. So we started going there. That's when the visions came." Fear crept into her voice, "We can't go there now though. We're scared." Both girls shuddered and for a moment, their skin glowed dimly. Before I could even react, the glow faded and with shock, I realized that they looked slightly younger, maybe four years old?

Gajeel seemed unperturbed by this and continued, "Let's keep moving for now. We can help you get to that mountain. Levy, you can hold onto my hand and Bunny…I mean Lucy, you can hold onto Natsu's hand, okay?" Both girls obeyed immediately and feeling Lucy's tiny hand clasp my own caused an unfamiliar energy to flow through me. I had no idea what it was, but Lucy's skin began to glow again slightly and when it faded, she seemed to be five years old again.

With that, we began walking towards the mountain, as Gajeel very quietly explained what was happening to me, "The girls seem to grow younger the longer that they are in here. As long as we remain in contact with them until they are "old" enough, then we can escape. But that means we have to protect them from any kind of fear or enemy. Just the thought of the monsters caused them to grow younger."

I argued, "Didn't Bickslow say that he can pull us all out on his own?"

Gajeel agreed, "I get it, but if the girls say that Magic Mountain is important, then I think we should go there. Maybe the voices they are hearing are those of our friends."

I understood what he meant but I frowned, "Do you think that their memories will return? They don't seem to recognize us."

Gajeel grimly replied, "I don't know what these "visions" Levy was talking about are, but I have a feeling that they are remnants of Melinoe's power in their souls and minds. Theoretically, as they grow older, they may be able to recognize what is real and what is fake and their memories should return."

I nodded in assent, "Good. This mountain sounds as though it may be our ticket out of here too." I grinned, "So Iron Face, I didn't know that you were so smart, or so nurturing." I mimicked his awkward smile from before.

"Shut up." He growled lowly. I laughed aloud and looked down to see Lucy looking up at me with a curious expression. I felt a pang in my heart and squeezed her hand gently. I would protect her this time. I wouldn't let her leave me. Not again.

 **I have no clue where I'm going with this and how I'm going to end it but I hope you are managing to follow and enjoy my story!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: There is Nothing to Fear But…Yourself?

 **NATSU POV**

So the four of us together slowly made our way towards the Magic Mountain Levy talked about. The whole time, I kept my hand latched to Lucy's and by the time we reached the base of the mountain, she looked to be a teenager again, maybe 14? At least that part Bickslow talked about is going according to plan.

On the other hand, Lucy and I hadn't really talked much since the time we met in this place. It's starting to get on my nerves. It's like she wants nothing to do with me. Nothing has happened that shows that any memory of her life in Magnolia has returned. I hate to see her briefly glance at my face with such a blank expression. Even though she didn't know how I truly felt about her, she always had some kind of emotion on her face when she looked at me. Annoyance. Joy. Confusion. But there is nothing, and it is tearing me apart inside.

There haven't been very many monsters either. Everything has been really quiet and that's just adding to the tension. I'm anxious for something to happen since it had frightened the girls enough to cause them to lose faith in themselves. _Come on come on! Gimme a challenge! Gimme a fight!_ I was really close to just pummeling Iron Face into the ground I was so jumpy and anxious.

We were slowly making our way up the mountain now, following a quite beautiful path that seemed to be beckoning us forward. It was certainly a picturesque moment, yet something in the air was a constant reminder that this wasn't a normal place. It seemed heavy, weighing down upon my shoulders and chest. It was like eternally walking through a fog, unable to sense where it began nor ended.

Even with Lucy by my side, I could not shake this horrible feeling. It was like grief, like fear, yet I had never quite felt something like this before. Gajeel took one look at me and said, "You feeling it too?" I nodded slowly. Feeling uneasy, we made it up the rest of the way up to the top. Once reaching the peak…there was nothing to be found?

My heart stuttered wildly in my chest. The top of the mountain was just a plain gray expanse, completely different from what we had seen all of the way up. There was no life at all to be found, even the air had stopped blowing past us. _I don't understand…Maybe we just need to wait?_

Unfortunately, the universe wasn't willing to give us that time as suddenly, Lucy and Levy simultaneously dropped our hands and put their hands to their heads. They both began to mutter, "No…no…" Their eyes gained a wild look to them and they both screamed, "NOOOOOO!"

I had to cover my ears as their screams amplified in volume to the point that I couldn't stand any longer. My eyes shut of their own accord in an attempt to withstand the sound. Squinting, I looked at Lucy in shock to see that she was surrounded by dark shapeless shadows. In shock, I watched as a black stream flowed from Lucy's forehead onto the ground, forming another new shadow. Reaching for her, I touched her shoulder and watched as everything around me vanished. No Gajeel. No Levy. No Shadows. Just darkness and beautiful Lucy.

The Lucy in front of me was the one that I knew and loved, that much I could tell. She looked to be the right age and she looked at me with both happiness and regret. She murmured, "Natsu…" My heart soared at seeing her again but then I froze. At closer inspection, I could see that her arms were chained behind her back and her body was very badly bruised. Her eyes held an exhausted expression and she looked to be on the verge of keeling over. As I was reaching towards her, a dark substance began to inch itself along her skin, turning her skin into shadow.

Unable to speak, I watched as another dark substance zoomed forward on the ground and began to build upon itself into forming a familiar shape. As it formed, the shadow began to color itself in, showing that this was stronger than any of the other previous shadows. I heard wild dark laughter as the shadow finished taking shape and my eyes widened. My voice was stuck in my throat as I found myself face-to-face with…myself?!

Standing in front of me was an almost-exact copy of myself, fire swirling around its body. The only major difference was its eyes. While it looked at me with a familiar intense and wild expression, the irises were blood-red, reminding me slightly of Zeref's own eyes. Confusion slammed into me. _Why did I think of him in a situation like this?_

Lowering myself into a fight stance, I glared angrily towards the duplicate as I watched him _it? I don't really care._ Approach Lucy and grazed his hand underneath her chin. Wherever he touched, the skin turned an ashen gray and Lucy let out an agonizing moan. Fire answered my call as I clenched my fists and growled lowly. I spoke in a low tone, "Don't worry Lucy." Heat exploded and the flames I emitted shaped into a dragon, with myself at the center. I roared, "I will protect you this time. I WILL SAVE YOU!" Letting out a battle cry, I lunged forward towards my doppelganger, who finally reacted to my presence and raised a fiery fist, preparing to deflect my attack.

I knew that this was about to be one of the most intense battles that I have ever participated in. More than the fight against Zeref. More than the fight against Laxus. More than the fight against Kain. But I'm not worried. Because I'm fighting for who I care about most. Lucy is fighting with all of her strength. I can see it in her eyes. Not just anyone would have been able to withstand all of this pain and still be able to fight back. She is strong. She is spirited. She is special. She is precious to me. Therefore, I must fight back with everything I've got. I won't let her leave me. Not again.

 **Sorry for the long wait. Kind of got writer's block and I came up with another idea for a Fairy Tail fanfic so I was distracted. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Also on the note of the other fanfic idea, I will probably start working on it once I finish up this story first. It will be called "The Fire Dragon Heiress". So if you are interested, be on the lookout for that over the next month!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen: Losing Hope

 **Something that hasn't come up yet in comments or whatever but I would like to remind everybody is that basically whatever happens with Natsu and Lucy happens with Gajeel and Levy. Anything that isn't the same I will specify in the future. Saves me a lot of writing time.**

 **BTW the beginning of this chapter is kind of similar to the end of the Grand Magic Games arc (which I haven't finished watching yet but I know what happens) but still pretend that this all occurs following the Tenrou Island arc.**

 **LUCY POV**

Darkness. That's all that awaited me when Natsu's face faded away. That's all that welcomed me as I felt myself fade away from my physical body for the last time. I had been trapped here before, when I was forced out of my own body. Yet previously I was able to "view" what was happening in the real world. This time though, I was completely alone.

I am not mentally aware of how long I remained in that darkness. There were tormenting shadows, physical memories of the various tortures I endured at Melinoe's hand. At first I fought back. But there are too many. Too many of them and I feel myself losing something. Something important. It was like when my soul was forced out of my body, but this time it was more numbing, more accepting. Every part of me screamed to let go. Let myself fade away into nothing so that I could finally be at peace for the first time in months.

That was until I heard his voice, screaming my name. My spirit strengthened. I couldn't let Natsu go through so much pain. It sounded like he was close too. Clenching my jaw, I stumbled forward blindly, unable to see anything. I only used his voice as a guide. He was fighting for me. I couldn't do anything else but fight just as hard.

I finally skidded to a halt and I gasped. Standing in front of me was clearly Natsu, looking at me with his famous toothy smile. He laughed, "Hey Luce! Glad I finally caught up to you!" I choked back a sob. Was this real? Was Natsu really here in front of me? He held out his hand and laughed, "Come on! The adventure continues!"

I was on the verge of crying. I didn't think that I would ever see him again. A single tear falling down my face, I replied, "Okay!" Taking his hand, I took a single step forward, only to hear Natsu groan in pain. Turning to him in worry, I gasped as his back hunched forward, letting my hand go only for him to clutch his head in his hands. Attempting to approach him, his hand suddenly shot out, wrapping itself tightly around my wrist. Heat began to increase at that spot until it became unbearable and I began to scream. Looking down, I saw nothing but fire. Wrenching my hand out of his tight grasp, I looked down to see that my skin was black in color. Not just burnt skin black, but void black. It was as though I was becoming the darkness myself. I looked at him to only see ruby colored eyes gazing mischievously back at me. _Wait…ruby!?_

It was then that it clicked in my head that this was one of the worst nightmares that I was forced to endure under Melinoe's hand. It was the one that broke my soul in the first place. I took in a deep breath and attempted to speak with a steady voice, "You don't scare me. You aren't real. You are just in my head."

The fake-Natsu smirked, "You sure about that? How can something that isn't real," Before I knew it, my face was meeting the ground and I groaned in pain. Before I could talk back, he added, "Be able to hurt you?" He kicked my back, pushing me forcefully into the ground, reminiscent of what Kain had done to me. _Was that only 4 months ago? It feels as though it's been a lifetime since then…_

His foot flipped me over and he threw me over his head, flying into the air, "Be able to maim you?" I came helplessly back down right into his fist, which shot me 20 feet across the plain. Moaning in agony, I was unable to make coherent words. Red-Natsu approached me and looked down at me with dark eyes, "Be able to kill you?" A magic circle appeared and I recognized it. I didn't have my keys, no strength left in my body from fighting the monsters from before and Melinoe. I was completely defenseless against Natsu's signature attack: the Fire Dragon Roar.

Being on the wrong end of it, I can personally say that it was an experience that I never wanted to repeat for the rest of my life. Then again, I might not be living for much longer. When the heat finally dissipated, I found myself lying against the cold ground looking up at my attacker. My skin felt as though it was no longer existent, breathing felt like it was next to impossible, and my eyes were having trouble focusing. From what I could tell, Red-Natsu was looking down at me with contempt.

He sneered, "Look at you. With or without your keys, you are nothing." The words slammed into my chest as though they were actual attacks. Who knows? Maybe he was attacking and I couldn't focus enough to tell, "You are weak. Worthless. Pathetic. I wonder what he sees in you."

Gasping I managed to force out one sound, "Eh…?" I didn't understand. What did he mean by "I wonder what he sees in you? It felt as though the answer was just out of reach, yet the pain I was experiencing was preventing me from focusing on his casually thrown-out sentence.

It felt as though several of my bones in my torso area were broken, so moving at the moment was a no-go. I was at the mercy of this jerk. But something else stopped me from fighting back. His words rang true in my head. I really was weak compared to everybody else on Team Natsu. Even Wendy was able to defend herself better than me. Sobs wracked my body as I felt him pull me up by the arm, moving some of the destroyed bones around in my chest, making me cry out.

I saw Red-Natsu frown, "Still, you are surprisingly resistant. But even you can't fight against this forever." I felt my arms be tugged behind me and restrained behind my back with some kind of heavy metal. He cupped my chin and said, "I wish we could have had more fun together, Luce." He grinned maniacally, "But it appears that he is going to interrupt us."

 _He?_

Red-Natsu turned into shadow and slithered away on the ground, leaving me alone to wallow in my pain. Just then, I could sense a strong magic presence nearby. Looking up, I saw Natsu appear in front of me. From what the other one had just told me, this had to be the real one. My real partner. My real nakama.

…the real man that I loved.

I felt as though my spirit was rejuvenated at the sight of him, yet all I could do was barely whisper, "Natsu…" He looked so relieved to see me as well, yet his face paled at the sight of my condition. I could feel something moving along my skin, starting from the wrist that Red-Natsu had held, slowly inching its way towards my heart.

Red-Natsu quickly reformed in front of me and while I could no longer see his expression, Natsu seemed to get angrier with each passing second. Red-Natsu reached towards me and grazed his hand underneath my chin and pain flared there. Moaning, I could see Natsu's hands catch on fire. He spoke in a low tone, "Don't worry Lucy." Heat exploded and the flames he emitted shaped into a fierce dragon, causing me to gasp at the raw power. I had only ever seen him do this before when he was fighting against Gajeel to protect me in Phantom Lord. He roared, "I will protect you this time. I WILL SAVE YOU!" Letting out a battle cry, he lunged forward towards Red-Natsu, who finally reacted to his presence and raised a fiery fist, preparing to deflect Natsu's attack.

My heart soared at his words, but I could feel my skin turning colder as the darkness spread across my skin. I didn't know exactly what the darkness on me was, but I knew that if I let it consume me, I would never be able to go home. Before, I wouldn't have minded. I was ready to give up. To die.

Now, seeing that the real Natsu was here with me, in the one place I thought I would never see him, fighting for me, I knew that I couldn't give up. He was fighting for me, so I needed to survive for him. I would always fight if he needed me to. Besides, I needed to tell him how I felt. And the only way to do that was to hold on. Hold onto life until Natsu can take me into his arms and take me home.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen: Saving Him

 **This chapter has some dark/possibly suicidal references/themes so if you can't handle that then don't read.**

 **LUCY POV**

I watched Natsu fight his doppelganger brilliantly, performing his graceful dance of destruction. He used spell after spell, yet I could not tell that any of them had any particular effect on Red-Natsu; he just swatted them aside and attacked with his own magic. While Natsu similarly didn't take on any damage, I realized with a low heart that he was slowing. While the magic he had portrayed to begin with was certainly powerful, during the actual battle, the amount of flames he produced decreased with every passing second and he seemed to be breathing heavily.

He wasn't the only one. My breathing was becoming more labored and shallower as well. The darkness crawling along my skin had reached my lower torso, turning my intestines into ice. I could barely feel my legs anymore and if anything, the icy feeling numbed the pain that I felt from my previous injuries. I was using every ounce of my willpower to slow it down, and I still wasn't able to stop it indefinitely. I saw my line of vision lower significantly and I guessed that I had fallen to my knees. I couldn't feel them anymore and I didn't dare look down to see. I didn't want to see the decrepit state my body was in. My weak body.

The one that can't defend itself from anything. The one that I've attempted to use to seduce people. The one that failed to do so. The one that was subjected to beating after beating. I'm always the one that's picked to be tortured or killed. Not Gray. Not Erza. Not Natsu. It's always me.

Why?

Because I am weak. I'm worthless. I only bring my friends down. I don't deserve to be loved. I don't deserve to love someone like Natsu who is so strong and naturally confident. It's always him that saves me. I could never be his partner in that way.

I could feel tears streaming down my face as the truth slammed itself into my face. Red-Natsu had said it before, and while I had acknowledged it, I hadn't really accepted it as my one true fate. It is all I am and ever will be. My fate is to die here. My fate is to die so that the others can live on. Then I realized something else. If I die, this nightmare will end. Red-Natsu will disappear and I can save Natsu. I can save him. Then I won't be weak anymore.

Red-Natsu's gaze suddenly jerked away from Natsu, who was currently lying on the ground attempting to rise. He glared towards me and growled, "You wouldn't dare." Wait a minute. Can he hear what I'm thinking? In answer he reached towards me and grabbed me by the shirt. He spoke in a harsh voice, "You don't have the guts to kill yourself. You wouldn't even be crazy enough to try."

I could hear a sharp intake of breath, most likely from Natsu, and I replied coolly, "I'm a member of Fairy Tail." Closing my eyes, I loosened my will that was combating the darkness, "Crazy is one of the few words in my vocabulary." Feeling the darkness accelerate slightly, I gave a weak smile to Natsu, "Besides, I would do anything to protect those that I care about."

I felt the first wave of darkness hit my heart and my entire body violently jerked. Somehow, I managed to remain upright on my knees. Looking up, I could see that Red-Natsu was holding his chest, his face white with strain. He gasped, "This isn't possible. That magic should not be able to affect me."

I smirked back, my vision going blurry, "This darkness you created was to destroy me at your own command. However, should the person afflicted purposefully let it consume them, both the person and the caster will be affected." I didn't know where this knowledge was coming from, but it didn't really matter to me at the moment, "Besides," I unsteadily rose to me feet, my body screaming from the effort, "I created you in my mind. I can destroy you just as easily." More waves of darkness crashed over me but I refused to fall. Red-Natsu on the other hand, completely in shock, took the full brunt of the curse. He fell onto his knees, three-quarters of his body already a part of the shadows.

Red-Natsu grimaced angrily and with his last fading bit of strength lunged towards me, his hand reaching for my heart. It all happened so suddenly, I couldn't even react. I closed my eyes, waiting for his final devastating blow, but it never came. Opening my eyes gingerly, I gasped as I see Natsu holding Red-Natsu by what remains of his neck. Natsu's features were shadowed themselves so I couldn't see his expression, but with one last pang of the darkness, I collapsed to the ground, completely this time with my chest slamming into the floor. Red-Natsu, on the other hand, began to roar loudly until only his face remained, then his eyes, and then he was gone.

Tears fell down my face once more. _I did it…I really did it…I saved Natsu…_ My vision was almost non-existent at this point. I could faintly make out Natsu's salmon colored hair and the shape of his body moving closer to my own. He dropped to his knees with a dull thud beside me and lifted my torso into his arms. My entire body was completely numb at this point and I could barely sense Natsu's presence. I was pretty sure that he was talking to me, trying to get me to speak back. I tried to say something, anything, yet I couldn't find the ability to even open my mouth.

Besides Natsu, I could make out two faintly glowing figures by his side. Somehow, I could hear their voices and my heart soared at hearing them again. With each passing second, they became clearer in clarity and I felt as though I could cry. She was singing a beautiful song, one that I knew I could never forget, and he was telling me how proud he was of everything that I had done. I felt myself rise up from the ground and take the woman's outstretched hand with my left hand, and the man's with my right. Together, we walked towards a glowing gateway. I didn't know what was beyond the gateway, but I couldn't wait to start my next adventure, this time with my parents by my side.

They walked into the gateway and I could see them waiting for me on the other side, yet when I tried to enter it, I was blocked by an invisible barrier. Despair panged in my no-longer-hurting chest. _Is this a cruel trick? To keep me eternally separated from my parents by a translucent barrier? What did I do to deserve this?! I saved him! I saved Natsu!_

At the thought of him, I turned back towards where I had gotten up from the ground to clearly now see Natsu screaming out, cradling my broken body in his arms. It was weird, seeing my own body in this way, but I didn't understand. _Am I eternally trapped here between both of these places? Unseen by Natsu yet unable to join my parents?_ I couldn't think of a worse hell.

Turning back to where my parents were, I could see that they had disappeared and remaining in their place was a single word: Choose.

 _Choose? You mean between Natsu and my family?_ _That's an impossible choice! I can't live again. I'm dead!_ I clenched my fist, "Besides, I bet Natsu and the others can move on someday. I was just holding them back." I looked back towards where my parents had been standing, "I haven't seen my parents for years. There are so many things that I wish I could change. I wish that I had made-up with my father. I wish I had cherished the time with my mother more. If I went after them, I would be able to do all of that."

I was about to attempt to enter the white gateway again when I heard Natsu say, "Lucy."

Turning back towards Natsu, I could see that he had stopped wailing for the moment, and looked as though he was going to speak to my dead body. I decided to listen to what he had to say. I was curious about what he would say when he thought I couldn't hear him. Looking at him, I could see that he looked unbelievably distraught, and that ripped my heart out of my chest. Maybe I wasn't ready to choose yet. Maybe I needed to give this choice a little bit more thought.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen: Natsu's Confession

 **NATSU POV**

Watching Lucy face-off against my clone was shocking to say the least. I couldn't believe that I had been defeated so easily against myself. But hearing him say something about Lucy killing herself caused my heart to fall in my chest and I gasped. _No…she can't possibly be considering ending her life._ Moments later, my clone lunged towards her and before I even knew what was happening, I held him up by his neck, preventing him from reaching her.

I could sense that Lucy was standing up behind me and my heart soared. Maybe she wasn't as affected by her injuries as I had previously thought she was. Maybe this would be easier than I had originally thought. My clone let out a loud roar and faded away into the darkness. I began to smile again, "Hey Luce! You did it! You…?" I turned back towards her to see her flat against the ground, her chest barely rising and falling with her breathing.

My heart stopped in my chest, "Hey…! Lucy!" I knelt down beside her and took her into my arms, cradling her head. Her skin was ice cold, causing me to shiver slightly in discomfort. Her entire body was covered in the blackness, with the exception of her chest and face which had jagged black lines zigzagging all over the place. I hadn't even noticed how much the blackness had affected her while I was fighting.

Looking at her face, I could see that her eyes were almost completely black, with the exception of the faint tinge of brown in her irises. I snapped my fingers in front of her face, "Come on Luce! Snap out of it!" Her eyes stared unblinkingly at me. My chest was squeezing uncomfortably tight and I shouted, "Lucy!" Looking at her chest, I could see that it was no longer rising and falling, frozen in place.

Placing my ear flat against her chest, I listened for any sign of a heartbeat only to be denied.

Lucy's heart wasn't beating.

Lucy's skin was ice cold.

Lucy wasn't breathing.

Lucy's eyes were unblinking.

"No…" I gasped, "No. No. NO!" Sobs began to wrack my body and caused my voice to crack. I screamed out, "LUCYYY!" I hugged her close to me, holding her tightly as though I could bring her back to me. For a moment, I could have sworn that I sensed her bright magic, but it vanished as soon as it appeared. Her scent was nonexistent, showing how long she had truly been trapped in here. For a long time, I just sat there, rocking in the darkness, holding the woman that I have lost three times.

Her soul was stolen.

Her soul had faded.

Her soul was dead.

My mind was a nervous wreck. There were so many things that I didn't get to tell her. I had so many chances. So many opportunities. I was a fool. I had believed that I had all of the time in the world to claim her as my eternal partner. My mate. I was too late in getting to her. I had failed her. I couldn't face everybody else without her. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I can't live with myself.

This was the first time that I recall crying like this in a while. Sure, I was crying when I was facing Gildarts on Tenrou Island. But these aren't tears of fear. These are tears of despair. Tears of loss. Tears of love.

I had lost Igneel. I had lost Lisanna before, but when she came back, I no longer had feelings for her. It was all Lucy. Lucy was my rock. The person that I can call home. And now she was gone.

The tears slowly stopped falling from my eyes and I looked at her face and brushed her beautiful golden hair to the side. Even with all of the darkness and bruises on her face, I still thought that she was dazzlingly beautiful. Shining and chasing away the blackness that tainted her.

I cupped her cheek and began to speak to her softly, gently, "Lucy. Remember the day that we first met? It was when you were trapped by that guy Bora. I saved you and took you with me back to Fairy Tail. You were so obsessed with the guild at the time, you were just in awe for such a long time. You became my partner with Happy and we were a good team together."

I took a heavy breath, "You came with me on so many missions with Erza and Gray, and eventually Wendy and Carla too. While I think you complain a bit too much, you were always able to smile and fight with the passion of a lion even when it was clear that you were at a disadvantage."

I nuzzled my face into the crook of her neck, "I want to let you know that when you did something like that, I was very scared for you. I was worried," I paused, "Back in Edolas when we were captured by the army, you were on the verge of being executed. I can tell you that I have never felt so afraid in my life for somebody. I never needed to be afraid for someone."

"Again on Tenrou Island, when you were being so stubborn and refused to leave me to fight against Kain by myself, I was so scared. He was killing you in front of me Lucy." I took in another shaky breath, "I have been forced to relive that moment again and again and again in both my sleeping and waking hours."

I held her limp hand in mine, "But I can't imagine what you have gone through at Melinoe's hand. You were forced to endure horrible things day after day after day. She killed you, in the end. But," I smiled sadly, "you still managed to come back. You were strong enough to come back to tell me what I needed to do, even though I didn't want to more than anything."

"When I heard that I could save you from this horrible place, I jumped at the chance. A chance to redeem myself from failing to save you before. To find you here meant more to me than you can possibly know." I hesitated for some unknown reason and continued, "Because you mean more to me than I ever got to tell you."

I began to ramble on, a slight sign of my internal madness, "You are the best partner I could ask for. You are strong, you are passionate, you never give up. Seeing you every day makes me smile because I remember everything that we have been through together and we've still come through on top. I've been so worried about you since you've come back but I didn't know what to do. I was scared."

A single tear dropped down onto Lucy's face. I wiped it away gently and said, "I can't imagine a life without you Luce. Even if you push me away in life, I won't be able to live in peace knowing that you aren't happy. Maybe I won't be the person to give you eternal happiness but…" I trailed off, "You're my mate Lucy." The wind around me began to pick up slightly as if responding to my confession, "You are my world, my light, and my everything. You have been ever since I met you. What I'm trying to say is…I love you. I always have and I always will. But I didn't save you from your nightmare. I'm not worthy of feeling this way." I cupped her chin lightly and lowered my own head, "I want to make it up to you ten-fold. So please Luce…please don't leave Fairy Tail….me…all alone. Please, come back to me."

Looking down at her face, I moved on impulse and before I knew it, my lips were latched onto hers. It wasn't what I had imagined for us at all, but I couldn't pull myself away. They were so soft and reminded me of vanilla and sunshine. Of course, she didn't reciprocate in any way. Because she was dead.

She was dead.

She was dead.

She was dead.

Dead.

Pulling away from her, I laid her down gently on the ground and closed her eyes. This way, with the exception of the dark stuff on her body, she looked as though she was just sleeping, recovering from a tough fight. But she wouldn't move. Not ever again.

I felt a coldness begin to spread from my feet up my legs. Looking down at myself, I saw that the blackness that had travelled through Lucy's body was now making its way up my own. I didn't know what it was, but all I knew was that Lucy had died because of this crap. Now I was probably going to die too. I didn't even fight against the blackness inside of me. Subconsciously I wanted it to consume me. That way I would at least be able to be with her again. Lucy and I can be reunited once more. Then I would beg for her forgiveness.

I closed my eyes and pictured the whole scene: Lucy would be standing there in front of me, smiling brightly at seeing me again. She would look like an angel itself and would be holding her hand out in joy, waiting for me to take it so that we may go off into oblivion together. I had to smile slightly at that: at least we would be together.

The coldness spread rapidly through my body and I fell flat on the ground. It had almost reached my heart and it was skipping uncontrollably in my chest. A part of me was telling me to fight. To live. But what is a life without Lucy? A life not worth living if you ask me. I turned to Lucy and brought her close to me, our bodies fitting together perfectly like a puzzle. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to be taken away by the current.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen: Reunited

 **LUCY POV**

Watching Natsu's heartfelt confession and kiss caused me to begin crying yet again. Touching my tears lightly, I could feel nothing but hope at the fact that Natsu felt the same way as me. I felt so depressed and worthless before, and in just five minutes I felt as though that I was reborn. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to go with my parents, not when I had Natsu and the others waiting for me in life. Why was I even thinking in that way? Sure I've felt weak before but I've never felt so horrible as to be willing to kill myself. Willing to leave my friends behind.

I approached him and I watched as he closed my body's eyes and laid me flat on the ground. With a start, I also noticed that on the lower half of his body, the same darkness that had overtaken me had begun on him. I knew that if I didn't do something, Natsu was going to die. I cried out to the silence around me, "Help me! How do I save him?!" My voice cracked, "Please…"

"Lucy dear…"

"!"Lucy jerked up to see her mother standing in front of her again.

She spoke gently, "I'm so happy and proud for you. You were worrying me at first, but you have fought the affliction of the darkening."

"Darkening?" I asked, but she waved her hand, skipping my question.

"I don't have time to explain right now. That young man needs help, and only you can give it."

Refocusing myself, I asked, "What do I need to do?"

She smiled faintly, "All you need to do is return to your body. Once you awaken, touch him on the cheek, and that alone should be all that you need in order to cleanse him of the darkness."

My heart spiked with adrenaline. Looking back towards Natsu, I could see that the darkening had affected him far more quickly than it had to me. He was lying down beside my body, facing me. He looked as though he didn't have very much time left.

I looked back towards my mother and I cried, "I want to stay with you, but I have to go back."

She smiled gently, "I understand my dear. Now go to him. Go to him before it is too late!" I raced over towards my body and touched my body's head gingerly (it is an odd experience so I don't recommend it.) I closed my eyes and felt the sensation of moving. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in front of Natsu whose face looked incredibly darkened and sad.

I gasped out, "Natsu!" I reached out instantly and touched his cheek with a faintly glowing hand. Instantly, the darkness began to dissipate, color returning to his face. He let out a long breath as though he had holding it for too long. Then he began to breathe at a more normal rate. I let out a long sigh and figured that he was going to be okay.

I looked up at the dark space above and whispered, "Thanks Mom."

 **NATSU POV**

Darkness surrounded me. It was like when I was initially brought into this hell, but this time there was no Lucy or anybody else for that matter. I was completely alone. _Is this what Lucy had to go through?_ I found myself wandering around for a short period of time before I heard Lucy's voice scream, "Natsu!" I didn't know where it was coming from, but I immediately felt as though I was going to be sick. It felt as though I was being forcibly moved throughout some kind of space and I found myself exhaling loudly and breathing as though I had stopped.

Opening my eyes, I hadn't even noticed that I had closed them, I had to do a triple take as I took in the scene before me. There she was, my Lucy, glowing like an angel, her face taut with concern and worry. Her hand was on my cheek and she seemed to have been crying. Reacting swiftly, I sat up suddenly and shifted slightly away from Lucy. I asked slowly, "Lu…Lucy?"

She nodded, smiling with tears falling down her face. I didn't even know what to do at this point. I didn't know whether I should tell her how glad I was to see her, hug her, kiss her, or even do all three! I didn't end up making a choice as she instantly wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face into my chest. Feeling her warmth and recognizing her scent confirmed that this was 100% real. She was alive. She was here with me.

Wrapping my arms around her, I realized that the darkness surrounding us had begun to dissipate. Instead, it was replaced by the beautiful scenery of Magic Mountain. This time though, the air had lost that heavy feeling that had made me feel so down before. Now, I felt as though I could take on the world.

Reluctantly pulling away from her, I cupped her face with both hands, still shocked into disbelief. I couldn't believe any of this. She was dead. I had seen her die with my very eyes, yet here she was smiling at me yet again. Lucy looked around us and asked, "Where's Levy? She came here with me." Looking around myself, I realized that we were the only two present on the mountain.

I was about to reply that I didn't know when the air rippled slightly and Gajeel and Levy appeared nearby, both embracing each other tightly. He looked at me with a watery smile and I couldn't help but smile back. It appeared that they had gone through a similar ordeal and he had possibly confessed to his mate. Speaking of which…

I turned back towards Lucy and was about to ask what she remembered of the ordeal when I felt a pull of magic. Initially tensing, I relaxed when I recognized the energy as Bickslow's. The area surrounding us faded of all color and shape and when I opened my eyes again, I was staring at the ceiling of Melinoe's "hotel".

Immediately after I sat up, I was bombarded with questions of: "What happened in there?" "Are you okay?" "Holy crap you got them out!"

Looking to my side, I saw that Lucy's eyes were also open and she was breathing steadily. She looked towards me and gave me a weak smile and I couldn't help but laugh. I pumped my fist into the air and said, "We won! We did it!" Cheers and applause erupted from around us as everybody repeated what I had said.

It was finally over. Melinoe was defeated and the girls were both alive. While they were relatively badly injured, it was nothing that bedrest couldn't fix. Picking Lucy up in my arms, holding her bridal style, I put my forehead to hers and above all of the hubbub, all I could hear was Lucy whisper, "Thank you…Natsu."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen: The Truth is Revealed

 **LUCY POV**

Being back in my own body and surrounded by my family of Fairy Tail is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Even more so than when we initially returned from Tenrou Island, this return home was far more powerful to me.

Lying in bed, I was sitting upright while Wendy focused on using her magic. Levy was in another one next to me. Both of us were exhausted, yet the master requested that we tell him what exactly happened to us, from the moment Melinoe was tricking us to when we woke up back with Natsu and Gajeel.

Explaining how she had tricked us in the first place, I noticed that Natsu was tensing beside me. He hadn't left my side ever since I had been returned. While he no longer had the gaunt and exhausted look in his eyes, they held a determination and fierce protectiveness that I had only seen a few times before. _Could this be because I am his mate?_

Levy and I both skimmed over what really happened while in captivity since we knew if the boys heard, they would become even angrier and feeling guiltier. All we told the others was that Melinoe used her magic for the majority of the time, showing us different nightmares and we were barely able to sleep at all. She rarely fed us, only enough to keep us alive and eventually, the torture also included various physical tortures. We didn't go into detail on that either.

The boys ended up helping us explain what occurred in the Soul Trap, but none of us were able to explain the darkness and how any of us were able to survive that. Bickslow himself said that all of our souls had almost completely faded out of visible existence during the time that the darkness was overtaking us. Levy had a thoughtful look on her face and I made a mental note to ask her what she knew, out of earshot of everybody else.

Makarov seemed to know that both Levy and I were hiding some particulars of the story, yet he didn't seem keen on asking us about it. He sighed and said, "Well you two have been through a horrible ordeal. But now you are home, safe." He cleared his throat and spoke so that everybody outside of the infirmary could hear him, "As such, we must celebrate! Hooray for Lucy and Levy!"

"Hooray for Lucy and Levy!" the guild echoed. Cheering could be heard from everywhere and a party seemed to be underway within a few minutes.

Makarov looked towards everybody else in the room and said, "Everybody should leave these two be so that they can rest." Almost everybody left the room at that. Natsu and Gajeel growled slightly but Makarov said, " _Everybody_."

Natsu and Gajeel looked apprehensive about leaving us by ourselves and Levy said, "Look, we aren't going anywhere for right now. You can check up on us later"

The boys whined slightly and I said, "Levy's right. Besides, you should go have fun for us. You haven't for a while. We can talk again later." They looked at each other and gave a firm nod. Then they both swiftly left the room to join the party.

Levy giggled, "I have a feeling that they aren't going to be too far away for very long." She looked towards me, tilting her head, "They blame themselves you know."

I sighed and agreed, "Yeah, even though if anything this is our faults more than anything else." Levy nodded glumly. We were the ones that ran off by ourselves in the first place. I asked, "So, what do you know about this whole 'darkening' thing?"

Levy's face fell, "Was it that obvious?"

I shrugged, "Maybe just to me. Maybe the boys noticed too but they don't know how to say it without upsetting you."

Levy looked at her bandaged arms in her lap, sighed and began, "The 'darkening' of somebody's mind or soul is most commonly referred to as the physical manifestation of the loss of all hope or the taking over of depression."

My eyes widened, "Depression?"

Levy looked at me sadly, "I'm assuming that when the darkness was on you, all of your dormant or otherwise negative thoughts came to the forefront of your mind." I thought about it and remembered how worthless I felt when I was unable to fight back and how I was happy to leave my friends behind because I assumed they would be better off.

My expression must have said it all because Levy said, "It happened to me too. It took over and essentially was the thing that killed me."

Then I asked, "But how did we come back? How did we save the boys?"

Levy shrugged, "I'm not 100% sure myself, but I can guess that we came back since the feelings brought up by the darkness were taken away somehow. And with the boys, I assume that their darkness circulated around the guilt that they were unable to save us. When we showed that we were alive, and possibly because we gained some extra powers from being able to fight off the darkening, we were able to rid it from their souls." She blushed slightly and said, "Lu-chan? When you were consumed by the darkening, were you able to listen to what Natsu said to you?"

Blushing myself, I said, "Yeah. He said a lot of things that I need to think about."

Levy giggled, "He confessed to you, didn't he?"

My jaw dropped, "You're not telling me…Gajeel confessed to you too?!"

Levy shushed me and I immediately fell silent. I forgot that our protectors had super hearing. We didn't want them to hear what we were talking about. Levy nodded and said, "It was really quite beautiful too. But I wish he could say that to me when he was aware that I could hear him."

I nodded in agreement, "Natsu too. I was crying." I paused, "So what are you going to do about it?"

Levy shrugged, "For now, I'm going to just wait and see what he does. If he acts like his normal self, then maybe I will be more forward about my own feelings."

I grinned, "So you do have feelings for him."

Levy's face turned an even darker pink. She snapped back, "Well it's not like you don't have anything for Natsu either."

We just looked at each other in a moment of silence and then we both burst out laughing. I wiped my tears away and said, "It's good to be home."

Levy smiled back, "Yeah, and things are going to be a little different now." She lowered herself down into a lying down position and said, "I'm going to try and sleep. You should too. We can finally have normal dreams for once." She turned away from me and within moments was out like a light.

For me though, sleep was unable to close my tired eyes. When I did, all I could see was Natsu when the darkening had almost completely consumed him. I shuddered and tried to think of something else. Before I knew it, it was a few hours later and I heard two figures slink back into the room. I jumped slightly and grabbed my keys on the bedside stand, preparing to fight when I heard a gentle voice, "Luce it's okay. It's just Ironhead and Natsu."

I heard a slight growl at that, but I relaxed back against the pillows. Gajeel slunk towards Levy's side and sat down beside her, his eyes never leaving his face. Natsu sat down beside me and I reached out and grabbed his hand. He jumped slightly at that and I whispered to him, "Will you stay with me?" I shuddered, "I'm scared. Please don't leave me."

I heard a sharp intake of breath and I felt his forehead touch mine again. Peace swept over me and I found that my eyes were becoming heavy. He answered back, "Never Lucy. I will always be right here, by your side."

 **So this story is almost over! Just another chapter or two I think should be enough to finish this up. I hope everybody has enjoyed! Also, make sure to review! I want to become a better writer so any reviews, good or bad, would be very very helpful for the next stories that I will write.**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty: Promises

 **LUCY POV**

It's been about two weeks since the whole Melinoe incident. Nobody has spoken her name since it frequently sparked rage and unwanted memories. Also, nobody really wanted to make my new personal bodyguard angry. Same went for Levy.

Speaking of those two, for the past week, they haven't really been around. While I can definitely say that I was grateful for the much needed privacy and peace, I couldn't help but feel sad when Natsu was gone. Just by looking at Levy's expression, I could tell that she felt the same way about Gajeel. When I tried to ask the others where the boys were, they just said that they were on missions. That made me feel even more down. Natsu, Happy, and I are a team. Maybe this is just because I am out of commission for a while. He'll be back to normal once I'm up and about again.

Another week and a half passed before I was finally allowed to leave the infirmary. About time too. I've been feeling as though I would go stir-crazy, despite the efforts of the other guild members that tried to entertain Levy and me. My eyebrow was twitching like crazy up until the point that I managed to limp my way outside. Wendy has been exhausting herself every day to heal Levy and I, even so, both of us have scars that could take months to fade, maybe they won't fade away at all.

As I was making my way back down to my apartment with Erza, I absentmindedly rubbed my neck where a slashing scar ran down the side. Erza noticed this and her eyes softened. She said, "Is it bothering you? I can get Wendy to…"

"No!" I quickly answered. I took in a deep breath, "I'm just…thinking. It's not hurting or anything."

Erza's gaze fell to the scar on my neck and said, "Okay. Just let me know if you need anything." She turned back forward to start walking again when she said, "It's okay to ask for help. There's nothing wrong with that." She put a hand on my shoulder in support and then continued to walk.

While her words were comforting, I couldn't help but feel sad. I missed Natsu terribly. I hadn't seen him in 2 ½ weeks, haven't heard his loud voice echoing throughout the guild hall. He said that he wouldn't leave. Why is it that shortly after making that promise that he disappeared?

Holding back my tears, I made it to the door of my apartment, quickly said goodbye to Erza, and promptly closed the door essentially into her face. I would feel horrible about it later but I couldn't hold back my grief. I had put my guild family into so much danger as a result of a selfish desire and simple blindness. Tears began to fall down my face and I sniffled loudly. Heading towards the upstairs area, I opened the door to…

"Welcome home Lucy!"

My heart skipped a beat in my chest and I snapped my hand down to my keys. Grabbing the first one I felt, I began to cry out, "Open gate of the…!?" Lowering my hand, I took in my surroundings to realize that I was in the kitchen, which was covered in sparse decorations. Standing in the middle of it all was…

"Natsu?" I croaked. He was there in the room. His infectious smile and ridiculous cute looking hair and his adorable pointed teeth. He was here. Natsu was here!

My heart managed to slow back down to a manageable level and in the process, I began to feel a little lightheaded. My entire vision began to blur and I stumbled down onto my knees. I could hear Natsu cry out my name in shock and I felt his arms hold me up underneath my shoulders. Distantly, I heard Natsu shout, "Lucy! Stay with me!"

I weakly managed to raise up one of my hands in front of Natsu's face and he let out a loud exhale, "You're okay!"

I managed to give a soft smile and my vision was slowly righting itself. I barely whispered, "You shocked me. I didn't know that you would be here."

Natsu grinned back and rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepishly at the ground, "Well I wanted to surprise you when you were released. I guess I didn't really think about how you would react." His face turned pink and I couldn't help but feel blood rush into my cheeks as well.

I managed to clamber up onto my feet and put my key away. Natsu's eyes lit up and he said, "Since all that's over, want to just hang out somewhere? Just like old times."

As much as I wanted to, I replied, "Thanks but I want to stay here. I've missed my apartment."

Natsu knocked himself in the forehead and said, "Well of course you have! Anyways do you mind if I stick around?"

I smiled back at him and said, "Not at all Natsu." Then I remembered something and punched him in the shoulder. He rubbed it slightly but didn't say anything. I shouted at him, "You idiot! Where have you been all this time anyways?!"

His cheerful eyes lost some of their glow. He looked at me with caution and said, "Lucy…"

I cut him off, "No, let me finish." I took in a deep breath, "You disappeared, and you told me that you wouldn't leave and after everything that's happened…" I trailed off.

Natsu didn't need to hear what I said and he took me into his arms again and I cried into his shoulder. For a while we just stood there, holding each other, knowing that the other was there, safe. I felt his fingers trail down my head until they rested upon my neck, gently tracing the scar that was there. It felt as though electricity raced through my body as his hands were on me.

Natsu finally murmured against my head, "Are you ready to hear me out now?" I didn't speak, but I did nod against his chest. He brought me away from him and held me at arms-length apart and made it so that I could look directly into his eyes. At that, he pulled out a fat looking envelope and dropped it on the table.

I asked him, "What's this?" I reached over and opened the envelope, only to find thousands of jewels inside. My heart briefly stopped in my chest in shock and I began to ask, "Natsu…?"

He began, "The reason why I left just after you came back was because I knew that the landlady here was not happy about the fact that you hadn't paid your rent in a while. I ran into her just after we found you and Levy. She said that if you could come up with 3 months of rent by tomorrow, she would let you stay." He gestured at the money on the table and my jaw dropped open in shock.

My voice cracked, "Natsu…you took all of those jobs on for me?"

He smirked slightly and said, "Well it was either this or you end up on the street." His face fell slightly and added, "I didn't want that to happen to you."

He sighed, "So I took on as many jobs as I could, since I knew that you would be released soon. Even though I was doing all of it for you, I couldn't help but feel so worried."

I was about to interject when he said, "Let me finish what I have to say, because I have a feeling you might want to talk for a while afterwards." I nodded slightly and he continued, "After seeing the way you were in the infirmary, after everything you went through, I was very very scared. Also on another note," he raised an eyebrow at me, "I know you aren't telling me everything about what Melinoe did to you. I want you to tell me later. Everything."

I didn't answer and he said, "Anyways, I wanted to stay by you, just in case you needed me. But I knew that this came first." He punched his hand, "You have no idea how difficult it was for me to leave you. I wanted to be by you, just in case you needed anything. Just in case you were in trouble. But I did it. I managed to save your home at least." He went silent after that and sat down in the chair at the table.

I sat down across from him and took his hand in mine and began, "Natsu…I don't see the point in telling you about what happened to me. That was in the past. We both need to move forward now."

His eyes seemed to gain a shadowed dark look at that. He said, "Even so, I don't like the fact that you are hiding something from me."

I scoffed, "Speak for yourself, I know you are hiding something from me." His eyes widened and I said, "Yeah that's right, I know that you have a secret too. One that you don't want me to know about yet." I hoped that my face didn't give anything away. I knew all about his secret. I knew that his "secret" was that he was in love with me. I just wanted to know if he would be willing to tell me when I was aware.

Just then, I had an idea, "Hey Natsu?" His eyes softened at the sound of his name. I asked him, "Why don't you tell me what you've been trying to hide and I will tell you everything about what happened with Melinoe." I could see the gears turning in Natsu's head as he pondered this idea. Actually, what surprised me more than that was that he actually started sweating.

I was about to get up from the table when Natsu said, "Fine. I agree to your terms." I froze in place. I didn't actually expect him to take the deal. I figured that if he didn't want me to know before, why would he bother telling me now?

He rubbed the back of his head slightly, deep in thought. Then he sighed and said, "I've never really been good about this sort of thing, so I'm just going to come out and say it." He looked up at me with pleading eyes, "Please, don't freak out." I nodded in compliance and he sighed and threw his head into his hands and mumbled quietly, "I think I'm in love with you."

My heart soared with his words. It was true! It wasn't just because I had died and he was emotionally unstable. He wasn't in love with Lisanna like I had feared before. Everything that he had said down in the Soul Trap was 100% true. I looked at him to only see his eyes looking at mine nervously, with tears in his eyes.

I got up from the table and went to the other side of the room. I then started, "Natsu?" He didn't respond, but I knew that he was watching me, "I want to tell you a story." I took in a deep breath, "The story of a girl who thought that the entire world wanted her to die."

 **I think there are going to be about 2 more chapters left, 1 to describe Lucy's point of view for this tale, as well as the "marking of the mates"/acceptance of love part for another chapter.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Sorry for the wait on this chapter! I've had it more or less ready for weeks but I forgot to post it. Oops.**

 **On another note, significant amounts of this chapter is just summary of what Natsu saw and bits and pieces of what Lucy saw in the Soul Trap. However, there is information in this chapter on how Lucy was tortured and her perspective on the events around her. So if you don't really feel like reading a summary of sorts, or are uncomfortable with reading that sort of material, skip down to the next bold section that says that "summary is over" or something.**

Chapter Twenty One: Truth

 **LUCY POV**

I began by telling Natsu the story of the girl who lived happily with her mother and father. She was beyond happy. Nothing could be better. But then one day, her mother died. The girl's life began to crumble around her. Her father was no longer willing to listen to her, locking himself away for days before emerging briefly only to lock himself away again. When she tried to speak to him, he would shout at her, scold her for being so impudent. Years passed and the girl became a young adult. She attempted to speak to her father one last time, but he simply regarded her as a business endeavor, as he was attempting to arrange a marriage between her and one of his business partner's descendants. So she ran away.

The girl was so sad, cold and hungry. She didn't have very much money, but she knew that she couldn't go back. She decided to wander around for a while to decide what she should do with the rest of her life. Then she remembered her mother's final gift to her: a golden key. This key was wasn't just any ordinary key, but a magic one. It summoned a powerful spiteful water spirit to her. Despite their seemingly angry relationship, the girl loved the spirit and remembered one of her dreams from her childhood. She once hoped that she could join a wizard guild. Not knowing where to start, the girl wandered some more, obtaining two new keys in her travels. Then she decided, after much deliberation, to join the Fairy Tail guild.

One day in her travels, she heard that Fairy Tail's Salamander was supposed to be in the port of Hargeon. She quickly made a detour over there in order to see if she could convince him to let her join Fairy Tail too. Unfortunately it was all a trick, and she ended up stuck at the mercy of him and his goons. Then a teenager that she had met earlier that day showed up and saved her. It was during this that she realized that he was the true Salamander. He immediately helped her and told her to follow him to the guild so she could join.

Things were finally turning around for her. Once she joined the guild, she took on jobs to pay rent on an apartment that she found. She met a bunch of brand new friends, becoming like family to her, yet none were as close as the Salamander. He and her were nearly inseparable and whenever she was in trouble, she could always count on him. However, one day it became too much for the girl. She didn't want to be saved anymore. Because of her weakness, she had nearly been killed dozens of times, only for the Salamander to save her.

So she decided to do a job all by herself, to prove to everybody else that she wasn't weak. On her way there, she met an elderly woman who asked her to help her carry many heavy bags to her home. The woman couldn't carry them by herself, so the girl immediately agreed. Unfortunately, she never made it to said destination, as it was revealed that the elderly woman was a fake. The girl was taken captive, along with one of her other female friends.

I took in another deep breath. This was where things became painful to think about. But I had to. I had to remember for Natsu's sake. _But I don't want to remember._ I shook my head and I knew that Natsu's eyes were glued to my face, listening more intently than ever before.

For an indeterminate amount of time, the girl was trapped in some dark looking dungeon. Her precious keys had been stolen from her, her hands and legs bound. The girl began to panic. She had just wanted to prove to the others that she could be strong too. But look where that got her. The "elderly" woman came back, revealing to be a dark sorceress, the daughter of one of the enemies the girl had helped the Salamander to defeat. She was looking for revenge and began to take it out on the girls.

The main girl of this tale was subjected to watch horrible visions of terrible gore and death of her new friends again and again and again. Her voice grew hoarse, her eyes unable to shed any more tears. Then the visions shifted slightly: instead of seeing her friends die, she would see them mocking her, telling her that she was worthless, pathetic. The worst one was of the Salamander. He was the strongest of them all, and in these visions, she witnessed his terrifying true raw power, eventually coming to be directed at her. While these visions were all in her head, the girl suffered terrible mental trauma, her real personality hiding in the darkest corners of her mind.

The dark sorceress would give enough food and drink in order to keep her alive so that the torment could continue. Until one day, the girl no longer reacted to the visions. She subconsciously knew that they weren't real, but they were slowly repeating themselves, no new horrors awaited. The sorceress realized this and then began to subject her to physical torture, mimicking that of the visions. The woman would slash the girl across her body with a knife, representing the "attacks" of the girl's knight friend. A wound that would frequently be inflicted upon her skin was a long deep cut across the side of her neck. One day she would be placed in a room with a freezing temperature, only for the next day to be trapped in an airtight room, losing all oxygen.

But the worst out of all of them was what the woman called the heat room. The girl would be thrust into what could be called an enlarged oven, and the girl would just be left there to roast and burn. This was by far the room that the sorceress preferred for this girl. What made it worse was that it reminded the girl of her best friend, the Salamander. She wanted him to save her for once, but he didn't come. The girl cried, thinking that she had been abandoned. All that was left for her was to be at the mercy of his power.

It was then that the sorceress decided that it was time. The girl was to die. The girl fought as hard as she could, yet all of her strength, mentally and physically, had been sapped out over the past period of time. She could nothing to stop the sorceress from taking her soul away. Just before her vision faded black, her last thought was, "Salamander…I'm sorry."

For a while, the girl felt as though she was floating in nothing, yet an image flickered to life in front of her. With a start, she realized that she could see her friends from the guild, all of them, with Salamander and his "brother" Black Steel leading the charge. They both looked incredibly different, with Salamander dragon-like with scales appearing all over his body. The girl had never seen him look this angry before and she tried to call out to him, but her body would not respond.

With grief in her heart, she watched her friends fight against the dark sorceress, only to find that the girl herself was one of the obstacles. The sorceress had repossessed her body to fight against her friends. With strength that she didn't know she had, she wrenched herself out of her numbing state and felt herself moving quickly through space until she awoke with a gasp.

She was back inside of her own body and was looking up into the Salamander's concerned expression. Hope soared through her body, but she knew it wouldn't last. She could feel the numbness coming back in full force and knew that she didn't have a lot of time. There was so much to say to him, but all she could sputter out was a request for him to destroy her body. To stop holding back to end all of this torment. She told him that this was all her fault, for being too weak. Salamander didn't agree, and praised her and her spirit highly. She wanted to thank him, to hug him, but the numbness came too quickly and before she knew it, darkness consumed her once more, only this time, she could not see anything.

I continued my telling of what exactly happened to me while I was stuck in the Soul Trap. I could hear Natsu inhale loudly when I revealed that I had heard everything that he had said while my body was no longer moving. His entire confession.

 **HERE IS WHERE THE MAJOR SUMMARY STOPS**

When I finally finished speaking, I snuck a glance at Natsu to see that his head was bent forward, attempting to hide his embarrassment once again. Tears began to stream down my face as I whispered, even though I didn't need to, "You're the reason I came back. I wasn't going to at first. I was too far gone." Tears began to threaten again and I choked out, "But I came back because…because I feel the same way you do!"

I could hear a chair scrape back and a firm hand land on my shoulder, squeezing gently in comfort. I looked up towards him to see him looking softly into my eyes. He turned me around and gently ran his hand through my hair, running his hands through the strands individually, ending flat on my cheek. He was so close now, he was breathing heavily and I could feel some of the heat from his breath on my face. It was so warm. So…Natsu.

My eyes moved up to meet his own to see that his eyes were dark, darker than I had ever seen them before. The pupils even looked a little bit thinner than they used to be, giving him a more sinister animal-like appearance. Even though Natsu looked menacing, I did not feel an ounce of fear. He's Natsu. He wouldn't hurt me. It looked like he wanted to do something, but he didn't move. If anything, he seemed to be holding back, afraid of what would happen.

So I asked, "Natsu?"

His eyes closed and he let out a short growl that caused goosebumps on my arms. His hand dropped and he turned away from me, slamming his fist into the opposite wall, creating a small hole. I could yell at him about that later. I asked again, "Natsu? What's wrong?"

His breathing was labored and slowly worked its way back towards a "normal" rhythm. When that was controlled again, he spoke, not facing me, "You have no idea how happy, how thankful I am that you said you feel the same way as I do. But…" he trailed off, searching for his next words.

My heart broke at the thought but I had to ask, "Is it because you aren't sure about this?"

His head snapped back towards me and he replied immediately, "Not at all. I know that I want to be with you Luce." Hearing him say my nickname caused my heart to flutter in my chest. He took my hands into his and he continued, "I just want to make sure that it's what you want."

"What…? I don't understand." I asked in confusion.

He held his head in his hands and said, "You said you heard me say that you are my mate right?" I nodded and he continued, "Do you know what that means?"

He had surprised me with this one, "No actually. There's almost no knowledge about dragons and dragon slayers. Basically everything I've ever learned is because of you or one of the other dragon slayers."

He let out a loud sigh and said, "Well…traditionally, when a dragon slayer has found their mate, they go through a ritual of sorts." He ran his hand through his pink hair, struggling with some internal conflict, "We call it "Marking", since the mates have to each magically mark the other."

I was even more confused now, "That doesn't sound so bad. What's the problem here?"

He sounded a little exasperated now, "The thing that you don't understand is that when the mates mark each other, there is a strange kind of magic involved. Once the process is complete, we should be able to sense each other's emotions and feelings."

My jaw dropped, "Whoa. That's crazy! How does that even work?"

He replied, "I don't know. But all I do know is that it is so that they each can sense how the other is feeling and to make sure each other stays out of danger." He blushed, "It actually kind of started before."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean that when you were taken, I could fear your fear. Feel your anger, even some of your pain. That's when I knew that…" he trailed off. He didn't need to finish for me to know what he was talking about. The moment that my soul was taken, the moment I died, he somehow knew.

I asked him, "So I still don't see the problem." His hands lingered over mine, "I wouldn't mind being connected to you in that way. If anything, it makes me glad. That way I can always make sure you are okay too." I gave him a slight smile and his eyes lightened slightly.

His frown deepened though as he told me, "Yeah, but I've heard stories from Igneel about people that go through with it. Most of the time, it goes completely according to plan and everything ends well but…" he quieted, "there are some instances where when one of the mates try to back out or the impact of emotions is too strong. Then one or both of them go insane and kill themselves."

A shudder ran down my spine at his words. _Go insane?_ I gulped slightly and Natsu noticed. He asked, "I think that you and I are strong enough to handle it, but I needed to know how you felt about it. So before we go through with this, are you absolutely sure? We are going to be each other's sole partners and once the decision has been made, you can't back out. So do you want to go through with this?"

I whimpered slightly and asked, "Isn't it just kind of possible to be mates but not go through the ritual?"

He shook his head, "If there was a way I would have told you but there isn't. Besides," he shrugged, "the process has already begun somewhat. This is your only chance to back out. If I remain unmated for much longer…let's just say bad stuff is going to go down."

I didn't even want to know about what that meant. He was considerably powerful enough to begin with. Combined with the rumored rage/madness of being unmated, there is no telling how bad things will get.

But I wouldn't be doing this just out of fear of him going insane. I grasped his hands in mine tightly and firmly repeated, "I came back because I feel the same way you do. I will not refuse because I am afraid." I put my hand on his cheek and he nuzzled into it affectionately. I smiled faintly and said, "I'm going to be honest. I am a little afraid. But since you will be there, because we are doing this for you, I feel as though that there's nothing that could go wrong. I will be your mate."

His eyes widened in shock and for a moment he remained still. Then his mouth widened into his signature grin. God I would never get tired of looking at it. I let out a small giggle and he raised an eyebrow. Then without warning, his face lunged forward and before I knew it, our faces were connected, his lips on mine.

It being my first kiss, since technically I was kind of dead for the first one, the entire sensation felt very awkward and very unlike what I was expecting. But eventually, the feeling of his lips on mine began to feel comforting as they moved together in sync. He hummed slightly in response and I could feel warmth coursing through my body. I opened my eyes, not realizing that I had closed them in the first place to see Natsu, and it took all of my will to not jump back in shock. His eyes turned into slits, the pupils flickering black with gold, a portion of his skin looking scale-like.

A moment later, he pulled his lips off of mine and the draconic transformation faded and the normal Natsu remained. We were both breathing heavily and if I had to guess, he nearly gave into his dragon-half just now.

He blushed and muttered something under his breath. As I did not have supersonic hearing I asked him to repeat a little louder and he said, "I really liked that Luce." I blushed slightly as his words causing him to laugh.

He backed away slightly and hung by the windowsill and continued, "I think we should do the process as soon as possible. It's becoming difficult to keep my control around you. Meet me outside the guild tonight." With that, he jumped through the window and I was left alone in my apartment.

Even though Natsu just totally ditched me, I couldn't help the grin that was plastered on my face. I couldn't believe it. I was soon to be connecting to Natsu, and the fear that I had felt before was nonexistent. If anything, I realized how exhausted I was and climbed into bed. From what Natsu said, I had a feeling that I was going to need my strength tonight, both physically and mentally.

 **Wow this chapter was waaaaay longer than I was expecting. But I hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be the final one of this story, about the marking process. For those of you that have stayed with the story this long, I would like to thank you all and hope that you will continue to read my future writings.**


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